Tense Review:Simple Present, Present Progressive, Simple Past

Prof. Myrna Monllor Jiménez

English 112

Copyright©January2011

Simple Present Tense

Is used for situations that happen every

day or habitually

For example:

I drink coffee every morning.

We visit our grandmother every month.

He studies for English class every day.

She calls her boyfriend often.

Notice that when the subject refers to he,

she, or it you need to add S or ES to the

verb.

She walks 3 miles every morning.

He chats all night.

She washes the dishes.

The program begins at 9:00.

It starts at 9:00.

To form the negative of a verb in the

simple present tense, you will use the

auxiliary verbs do and does.

• You use don’t when the subject of the sentence is I, we, you, or they.

• You use doesn’t when the subject of the sentence is he, she, or it.

For example:

She doesn’t like to clean her room.

It doesn’t begin early.

We don’t work every day.

They don’t eat junk food.

I don’t like vegetables.

Notice that the verb appears in its simplest form

when you use don’t or doesn’t.

To form a question using the present

tense, you will also use do or does at the

beginning of the question.

Do you come to class every day?

Does she cook?

Notice that • Again the verb is in the basic form• Does is used with the subjects he, she, it

ExceptionThe Verb Be

The verb BE is the exception to all the

rules, you do not use do or does to form

the negative or the question form.

I am young. I am not young. Am I young?

You are pretty. You aren’t pretty. Are you pretty?

She is lovely. She isn’t lovely. Is she lovely?

The Present Progressive

Is used for an action that began in the

past and is still happening.

I am talking.

You are writing.

We are watching TV.

Notice that the present progressive hastwo parts. The auxiliary verb BE + the -ingform of the verb.

I am studying.

BE -ing form

Because you are using the verb BE as anauxiliary verb, you follow the same rules aswhen BE is the main verb of the sentence.

Simple Past Tense

Is used to show actions that have already

finished.

I took a test.

She drove to the university.

We worked hard.

To form the negative of a verb in the pasttense, you need to use the auxiliary verbdid.

She didn’t drive to work.We didn’t watch TV.

Notice that when you form the negative,the main verb is in the base or simplestform.

To form the question in the past tense,

you need to use did as the auxiliary verb.

Again the main verb will be in its simplest

or base form.

Did you work yesterday?

Did the professor come to class?

Did she wash the car?

ExceptionThe Verb BE in the past : (was,were)

You do not use did with was or were.

I was tired. They were worried.

I wasn’t tired. They weren’t worried.

Was I tired? Were they worried?

Other things to Remember1

• Every sentence in English needs a subject, except if it’s an order. Subjects cannot be omitted like in Spanish.

Está lloviendo. It is raining.

Vamos al cine. We are going to the

Movies

Exception:

Close the door, please. Open the window.

2

• The subject and the verb have to agree. This means, you use a singular subject with the singular form of the verb and a plural subject with a plural form of the verb. This is especially important when you use some form of the present tense.

He surfs.He doesn’t surf.Does he surf?

The child and her mother cook.They don’t cook.Do they cook?

3

Use adjectives and adverbs correctly.

Adjectives describe the noun.

Adverbs describe the verb.

They are good performers. adjective

They sing well. adverb

4

• In general, when you start writing using a tense, you should continue using that same tense.

• This means that if you are writing using the past tense, you should continue writing in the past tense throughout the paragraph.

Tenses that may be used together

Present Tenses

Simple Present Tense

Present Progressive

Present Perfect

Future

Past Tenses

Simple Past Tense

Past Progressive

Past Perfect

Would + Base Form

(conditional past)

Examples

This morning I woke up at 5:30. I took a bath, had breakfast and then left to the university.

I am a student at USC. I study journalism. I want to be a TV reporter.