Present Tense

Grammar S2

English lecture S2 #4

By Chaouli Mohamed

For 1st year ST students

Djelfa University –2020/2021

1. Introduction

The present tense predominantly describes a current event or state of being.

However, somewhat unusually, the present tense can also be used to describe

past and future events.

For example:

I run in the park every Saturday. (present event)

I am happy. (present state of being)

The meeting ends at 6 o'clock. (future event)

… then he walks into the store. (past event like story telling)

1- Simple Present Tense

The simple present tense is used:

(1) To describe facts and habits.

(2) To describe scheduled events in the future.

(3) To tell stories to make your listener or reader feel more engaged with the story.

2. Types of Present Tenses (1)

then he walks into

the store

Simple present tense Examples :

I play every Tuesday

My family goes to Egypt every Summer.

Between two meals, I always pick the one I have never tried before.

Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement. (US

President Ronald Reagan)

I like the word indolence. It makes my laziness seem classy. (Philosopher

Bernard Williams)

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

(Author Douglas Adams)

War does not determine who is right - only who is left. (Philosopher

Bertrand Russell)

2. Types of Present Tenses (1)

2- Present Progressive Tense

The present progressive (continuous) tense is used for an ongoing action in the present.

2. Types of Present Tenses (2)

•Present Progressive Tense Examples

•I am playing at the moment.

•I am not getting any younger!

•People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. (Author Dale Carnegie)

•I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed

gibberish all over it and put your name at the top.

•Who knows what he is talking about?

•A fellow who is always declaring he's no fool usually has his suspicions. (Playwright Wilson

Mizner) (Note that adverbs (here, always) sometimes appear between the verb "to be"

(here, is) and the present participle (here, declaring).)

•As long as you're having fun, that's the key. The moment it becomes a routine, it's over.

•I'm leaving because the weather is too good. I hate London when it's not raining. (Comedian

Groucho Marx)

2. Types of Present Tenses (2)

3- Present Perfect Tense

The present perfect tense is used to describe actions that began in the past and are still continuing

into the present.

2. Types of Present Tenses (3)

Present Perfect Tense Examples

I have played for his team before.

Don't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has

taken the right side.

Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.

Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember

more than I have seen. (British Prime Minister Benjamin)

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up

where I intended to be. (Author Douglas Adams)

I've failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.

(Basketball star Michael Jordan)

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles

and misguided men. (Activist Martin Luther King Jr)

2. Types of Present Tenses (3)

3- Present Perfect Progressive

The past perfect progressive tense is used to show that an ongoing action in the past has ended.

2. Types of Present Tenses (4)

Ihave been playing

Present Perfect Progressive Examples

I have been playing for a year.

He has not been playing well for 2 months.

My grandparents have been living in this house for 50 years.

She has been relying on a pay rise to pay her credit card bills.

We have been learning since we were children how to make

money, buy things and build things. The whole education system

is set up to teach us how to think, not to feel.

2. Types of Present Tenses (4)

2. Types of Present Tenses (5)

Examples Uses

Simple present

tense



I go.



I like chocolate.



The train gets in at 5 o'clock.



And then the men walks into the

store to find out that is empty…

The simple present tense is used:

(1) To describe facts and habits.

(2) To describe scheduled events in the future.

(3) To tell stories to make your listener or reader feel

more engaged with the story.

Present progressive

tense



I am going.



Barny is looking for the latest

brochure.

The present progressive tense is used for an ongoing

action in the present.

Present perfect

tense



I have gone.



David has worked alongside two of

the world's finest scientists in the

field of nanotechnology.

The present perfect tense is used to describe actions that

began in the past and are still continuing into the

present.

Present perfect

progressive



I have been going.



Amanda has been relying on a pay

rise to pay her bills.

The present perfect progressive tense is used for:

(1) a continuous activity that began in the past and

continues into the present, or

(2) a continuous activity that began in past but has now

finished (usually very recently).

Thank you