Topic 2

Topic 2                           The Present Tenses                                                  

There are 4 tenses in the Present.  You have learnt 3 tenses separately in Gear 1 and 2 and here these tenses are to be reviewed so as to know when you can use each tense properly.

a)  The Simple Present Tense

b)  The Present Continuous Tense                            

c)  The Present Perfect Tense      

d)  The Present Perfect Continuous Tense

a)  The Simple Present Tense

     To show

     a Fact                                 [He] is a student.

     a Habitual action                  [He] gets up early every day.

     a general truth.                    [All living things] need air, water and food to live.

     A planned future action         [I] leave Sibu for Australia next Sunday.

     The Verb Pattern to use:

      i)  Verb-to-be  (State of being)

          am / is / are

    

          I     am                         We

         

         You   are                        You               are    

         He

         She     is                         They

         It                     

         

     ii)  Ordinary Verbs (Verbs showing actions)

          He / She / It    F1 + s / es

          I / We / You / You / They   F1  (root verb/base form)

     [I] am quite happy here.  [I] exercise every day.

     [You] are fussy.  [You] only eat (what [you] like).

     [Biki] is on duty to clean the blackboard on Tuesday.   [He] cleans it properly.

     [Julia and I] are interested in music.  [We] play the piano every day.    

          He / She / It       has

          I / We / You / You / They     have   

         [You and Urich] have a lot freckles on your skin.

         [The chicken] has colourful feathers.        

                                                                                                     

 b)  The Present Continuous Tense                                                  

  1.   To talk about a continuous action at the moment of speaking now.  

       The children are playing happily in the park now. 

      

   2.  To talk about the temporary action / situation in the present.                   6

        He is attending a course here.

   3.   To talk about a changing situation in the present.

         The weather is getting hotter and hotter.

   4.  To talk about an action in the near future.

         We are holding a party tomorrow night. 

        am / is / are        F2  

                                                                                                                  

        I              am                                 We

        You          are          F2                   You                   are  F2

                                                                                             

        He                                                                        

        She          is                                   They

        It

     [I] scratch myself every day.

     [I] am scratching myself now.

     [The children] share (the hoops) every day.  

     [The children] are sharing (the hoops) now.       

     [My grandmother] takes (a stroll) in the park every day.

     [She] is taking (a stroll) now.

 c)  The Present Perfect Tense

To show what have been or have not been done but it affects the situation now. 

We use ‘since’  to show a point of time it started and  ‘for’ to show a period of time.   We also use such adverbs like ‘already, never, ever, yet and the like’.

      i)  Verb-to-be  

           He / She / It   has been

           I / We / You / You / They    have been

      ii)  Ordinary Verb

           He / She / It    has F4

           I / We / You / You / They    have F4

           [John] is sick today.  [He] has been sick since last Friday.

           [He] has already stayed at home for many days

           [He] is lying in bed now.  [He] feels giddy and dizzy.                       

           [The monkey] plucks coconuts every day. 

            [It] is plucking a coconut now.  [It] has already plucked ten coconuts.

      

    The finite verb tells us the tense of the sentence.                                       7

d)  The Present Perfect Continuous Tense

     You use  Present Perfect Continuous Tense when you want to emphasise the  

      continuous action which took/takes place in the past and it continuous to the

      moment of speaking or still going on.

          The Verb form

          have / has been F2

          I jog every day.

          I am jogging now.

          I have jogged here for an hour already.    (How long)

          I have been jogging here since 5pm.       (from 5pm to 6pm now )

Ali reads every day.

He is reading the book called “The 6 Habits of Highly Effective People” now.

He has already read 200 pages.   (How many)

Ali has been reading this book since last week.