Grammar

Lesson#2:Verb Tenses

Attention !

This lesson deals with the various verb

tenses in English. When looking at the

tenses, we also look at the nature of

tense, as used in the English language.

Read the lesson sections very carefully!

There are many details there which will

help you understand and use English verb

tenses better.

In understanding verb tenses in English,

we must understand how verbs in the

English language grammatically express

TIME and LOCATION in our speech.

Since verb tenses deal with TIME. We

can explain English verb tenses by using

a TIME LINE as shown below:

The present

Since tenses also deal with Past time and

Future time, we can place these two times

on the time line with the Future being

anything to the right of the Present and

Past being anything left of the Present.

past present future

Along this line we will place symbols to present

1)when the speaker is speaking (usually the Present;

2)when the event that is being spoken about is occuring (anywhere along the line)

3)a symbol which represents the Perspective from which we view the event being spoken about. The symbols shall be as follow:

1.ST-speech time;2.ET- event time;3.OT-orientation time.

Let’s look at a few examples:

Paul works at the University of

Pensylvania

The verb works is in the Simple present

tense and we can be diagrammed along

our timeline as follow:

ST OT ET

In this general sentence the Speech

Time(1); Event Time(2); Orientation

Time(3), all occur in the present. This is a

typical diagram of Simple present in

English.

Here is another example:

Peter is reading the newspaper.

The verb is reading –in the Present

Progressive tense and can also be

diagrammed along our timeline as follow:

ST OT ET

Both the example present and the present

progressive tense are diagrammed the same.

So, what’s the difference?

The difference is in aspect. The aspect of the

simple present reflect a habit or habitual action(

Paul works at the Uni. Of Pensylvania.)

The aspect of the sentence about present

progressive reflect an action that is IN

PROGRES and has not been completed.

So, now you’re seen a small example of

the difference between Tense and Aspect.

Tense deals with Time along a timeline.

Aspect does not! Aspect deals with the

internal nature of an action or state in our

speech, i. e. whether they are habitual, in

progress, completed or not completed.

But, whereas some languages deal with

Aspect separately from tense (such as

Russian), English does not !!!

We combine aspect and time !

That’s why we have a simple present and

present progressive tense instead of just

present, past, future.

Don’t get confused!

The Russian language has three simple

tenses-present, past, future. But it also

has two separate and very unique Aspect-

perfective and imperfective. Here are

some examples:

Иван читает газету в трамвае.

Taken literally, this can be translated:

Ivan is reading a newspaper on the tram.

This is similar to the English present

progressive. It means that Ivan is in

Progress of reading the newspaper right

now on the tram, in order to say that Ivan

reads newspaper every morning, we have

to add some words to help:

Ivan reads the newspaper on the tram

every morning.

The verb stays in same-читает but the

words every morning are added to express

the meaning Habit as in English Simple

present. Both of these sentences are in

the present tense and in the imperfective

aspect.

In Russian also the perfective aspect is

usually used with the past of future tense.

Take a look at the following examples:

Иван прочитал эту книгу вчера.

Ivan read this book yesterday.

Иван уже прочитал эту книгу.

Ivan has read this book already.

The verb shown here – прочитал in both

cases is in the Perfective Aspect of the

verb to read but the sentences both

express different meanings though the use

of other words. (yesterday in ex.1 and

already in ex.2).

Now, if I was to use the Imperfective Aspect of the verb- to read in a sentence, look how the verb in the English translation change:

Иван читал книгу вчера

Ivan was reading the book yesterday

By using the Past tense of the Imperfective aspect verb, we now produce the Past Progressive in English.

So, we can now see that in English we combine our Aspect meanings with our tenses. Now let’s take a look at each of the major tenses in English.

1)Simple present

Example: John reads books.

Explanation: This tense expresses present Habit. In other words, John regularly reads books.

You could also say: John reads books

everyday.

2) present Progressive

Example: John is studying now.

Explanation: this tense can be used to

express two meanings. In this first

meaning, a present action is being

expressed as in progress right now.

Simple Past

Example :We saw Bob and Tina yesterday.

Example :We got off the bus and looked

around.

Explanation: The simple past is used to

express one or more completed actions

that took place in the past.

Past progressive

There are three usages with this tense:

Example: I was cooking dinner at 7 o’clock

last night.

Explanation: The meaning here represents

an action that was happening at a specific

time in the past.

Present perfect

Again, This tense has 3 main usage (meanings) :

Example: I have been to Ireland (we are not talking about when it happened)

Explanation: This meaning is for an action that happened at an indefinite time in the past. Note: the tense name is Present perfect but the meaning is of the Past time. This is called Present Perfect here because the helper verb to have is in the present form.

Present perfect progressive

Example : I have been working on this project since 1997. ( I began working on the project in 1997 and I am still working on it )

Explanation: This meaning is similar to ex. 3 under Present Perfect in that it is of an action that began in the past and is still occurring in the present. The only difference is that by using the Present Perfect Progressive you emphasize the incomplete Progress.

Past perfect ( subject + had + verb

in the past )

Now we come to the two most difficult

tenses for international students- The Past

Perfect and The Past Perfect Progressive.

Here we will use the timeline again to

illustrate the meanings of the two tenses.

Take a look at ex. 1 below:

He had stopped by the library before he

went home.

In general, this usage usually refers to an

action that occurred before another action

in the past. If we diagram this sentence on

the timeline , it will look as follows:

ET RT OT/ST

ET ( he stopped by the library-1st action)

RT (he went home – 2nd action)

Remember, that Orientation Time and

Speech Time are almost always in the

Present but since, there are two action in

this sentence, we have introduced a new

symbols (RT)-to represent the second

action. RT (Reference Time , is the action

which serves as a reference point by

which we explain the time of the second

action)

Past Perfect Progressive (subject +

had + been + verb+ ing )

The Past Perfect Progressive is the same as the Past Perfect except that you want to express that a certain action or state was occurring in the past of a period of time but has stopped before present moment.

Example: My sister had been living in Germany for seven years before she moved to America.

Explanation: in this sentence, both actions

happened in the past, but the 1st action

occurred for a specific period of time

before the 2nd action occurred.

This is the only difference between past

Perfect and Past Perfect Progressive.

Did you pay attention?

Yes!!!

I want to do the exercise

No!!!

Let me reread the

lesson first

Click A or B Choose the correct

answer for the blank.

1) Pam--- to Italy in the 1987

A. went

B. has gone

2) We--- this movie several times

A. has seen

B. saw

3) The news program Good Morning America--- every morning at 6 a.m.

A. is starting

B. starts

4) --- out tonight?

A. are we going

B. do we go

5) we --- when the electricity went off

A. studied

B. were studying

6) Jane --- her tuition after she had received her student loan

A. was paying

B. paid

7) I--- English for 10 years before I took the TOEFL in 1997.

A. had studied

B. was studying

8) Dr. Schmidt--- at our UNI. For the past 12 years.

A. is teaching

B. has taught

9) Betty--- to all her e-mail messages last night

A. was replying

B. replied

10) I---the TOEFL test two times since 1995

A. have taken

B. took