The Use of English Tenses

Present tense:
1) To show the present state or condition, particularly with stative verbs.
Caroline attends college in Canada.
2) To show an eternal truth or natural law.
The moon affects the tides.
Parallel lines never meet.
3) To show habitual action- repetition or non-repetition of the same act.
Beverly drinks coffee every morning.
The Andersons plant tomatoes every year.
4) To show the historical present in criticism to discuss writing, drama, music and art,
and in research that quotes or paraphrases what other people have said or written in
the past.
In the short story The Lottery, Shirley Jackson writes an allegory of the
injustices of life.
Darwin presents evidence for the development of life from lower to higher
forms.
Looking at all the evidence, one agrees with the critic who calls the play a
success.
5) For definitions and explanations.
Gross National Product means the total value of all goods produced and
services performed in one country in one year.
The screw is inserted in the lower right-hand corner of the frame.
6) To show future possibility in conditional and time clauses.
Uncle Robert will give you fifty dollars if he likes your work. (condition)
Uncle Robert will give you fifty dollars when he sees you. (time)
7) To show future events that are considered certain to happen.
The plane leaves at 9:25 tonight.
The term is over on December 16.
Present perfect tense.
1) To show an action that began in the past and is still going on.
Shirley has lived in Chicago for six years.
I have not finished the problem yet.
2) To show an action that began in the past and was finished at an indefinite time but is
closely related to the present and/or future.
The players have come early.
The players have just arrived.
They have recently announced their engagement. (They are still engaged)
Present continuous/progressive tense.
1) To show action as a process that is going on now.
Our dog is chasing your cat.
2) To show habitual action, often with the idea of showing dislike or disapproval.
They are always asking for special favors. / Tracy is always eating too much.
3) To show future action that you are looking forward to now.
We are repeating the experiment next month.
They are going to a concert tomorrow night.
As storm is coming tonight.
Present perfect continuous tense.
Shows incompleteness or indefiniteness very close to the present time, often
contrasted with now. Just shows that the activity is very recent.
He has been washing his car, but he isnt now.

She has been feeling ill, but she feels better now.
She has just been asking about you.

Past tense.
Use the past tense for a single event or for events that took place over a period of
time if that period is finished.
Tom and I worked in the same office for two years.
Past perfect tense.
Shows action in the past that happened before some other action the past shown by
a past tense verb.
Before Karen came here, she had studied in Paris for two years.
When Philip found out he had failed again, he gave up.
Past continuous tense.
Use the past continuous tense to show the temporary duration or incompletion of an
action in the past, particularly in contrast to a specific act shown in the past tense.
1) To show duration, with emphasis on the length of time, of an act that is no longer
going on.
Betsy was training her dog for five years.
2) Used for an action in the past that was not completed in the time period mentioned.
I was trying to clean the house last week. ( I did not complete the cleaning)
They were looking for an apartment yesterday. (They did not find one)
3) Used for an action that was going on at a time in the past when something else
happened.
James and I were watching TV when a lightning struck the house.
Past perfect continuous tense.
Used to show that an action in the remote past was temporary or that the time it
lasted was important or that an action was going on when something else happened.
Jane had been looking for a new roommate for six weeks before she finally
found one.
Women had been demanding the right to vote for many years before they
finally got it.
Future tense.
Will or shall + the infinitive.
Will Commonly used in the U.S. in all forms of the future.
Shall Used in England with I and We, but the usage is reversed in an emphatic
statement.
I, we will.
Emphatic in this usage
He, she, it, they, you shall
Going to is more informal and wordy than will.
Additional verb constructions that can be used to show future events:
1) Present of Be + Infinitive.
Our dog is to get a rabies shot next week.
New students are to register at two oclock this afternoon.
( This construction shows obligation or regulation. It is similar in meaning to
have to )
2) Present tense.
To show future events that are fixed or certain, whether personal or impersonal,
after if, unless, whether and after relative adverbs of time.
If the price is reasonable, Steve will buy a new car.

 The sun sets at 6:05 this evening.

When you find the answers to that problem, you can go.
3) Present continuous.
It can show action that will happen in the future.
We are having dinner at seven this evening.
My parents are coming to visit me next month.
Future perfect tense.
Used to show an action that will be completed in the future.
By the end of the winter season, more tourists will have visited the island than
ever before.
I left several letters unfinished on my desk, but I will have finished them
before noon tomorrow.
Future continuous tense.
Used to show duration, intention, or a temporary condition in the future.
As long as we live next to you, our dog will be chasing your cat.
Sometimes I think Ill be studying English for the rest of my life.
Future perfect continuous tense.
Used to combine the ideas of completeness and duration of time in the future.
Soon he will have been studying here for six months.
He started out hiking at sunrise this morning; by eight oclock he will have
been walking for three hours.