Values of the Tenses

VERBAL MORPHOLOGY PhD Lecturer Ionela Neagu The Values of the Tenses PRESENT TENSE SIMPLE             

General, scientific truths Habitual actions Permanent actions ‘Iterative’ Present Simple with frequency adverbs A sequence of short actions Explanations and instructions In demonstrations and experiments In announcements and newspaper headlines In stage directions The ‘historic’ or ‘dramatic’ Present Simple Future actions part of an official programme In Temporal Clauses In Conditional Clauses, type I

PRESENT TENSE CONTINUOUS  An action happening now or ‘now’ in general, not necessarily at the moment of speaking  

  

Momentary actions Temporary actions To express transition from one state to another (to ( to get, to grow ) A frequently repeated action which annoys the speaker (always ( always)) Future actions part of our personal plan

PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE  

 

 

Recently completed actions Actions finished in an indefinite/ unspecified moment Actions occurring in an incomplete period of time (today, ( today, this week ) Resultative Present Perfect – actions having visible results at present Present Perfect of Experience (ever, (ever, never ) Actions that begin in the past and continue until or even past the moment of speaking ( for, ( for,  since)  since)

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS 

Actions that begin in the past and are still continuing, extending up to the present moment  Uninterrupted actions  A continuous action which seems to have ended right before the moment of speech as it has visible results PAST TENSE SIMPLE 

Past actions finished in a definite past moment  Past habits or repeated actions in the past  An action that interrupts the development of another action PAST TENSE CONTINUOUS 1



Past actions seen in development in a past moment  Simultaneous actions in progress in the past  A casual, less deliberate action (as an alternative to the Simple Past)  Future plans seen from a past perspective PAST PERFECT SIMPLE 

A past action that started and ended before another past action  A past action that occurred just for a moment only to allow another past action to occur ( Hardly/Scarcely…when; No sooner…than)  In Time Clauses to express anteriority towards a past moment PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS 

Past actions that begin before and extend up to other past actions  Continuous, uninterrupted, but incomplete actions

FUTURE TENSE SIMPLE 

Future actions that will take place in a future moment  Predictions, offers, requests, suggestions  On-the-spot decisions (will )  Intentions, planned actions (be going to) FUTURE TENSE CONTINUOUS 

Future actions seen in development in a future moment  Future actions that will happen as a matter of routine  Future actions that will occur in the normal course of events FUTURE PERFECT SIMPLE 

Future actions started and finished before a future moment/event

FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS 

Future actions in progress that started before a future moment and extend until that future moment/event

FUTURE IN THE PAST 

Future actions seen from a past perspective

2

3