ENGLISH TENSES

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   CATEGORIES OF THE ENGLISH TENSE
One of the features of verbs is that they show time. This involves the use of series of verb forms to express or indicate time in various sentences. Tenses are used to establish a relationship between verbs and the time they are used in sentences. In other words, the time when an action is performed determines the type of verb form to be used. These verb forms are used in varying forms to show time in the present, future and past. These may be represented thus:


                                                   Tenses 

                     Future                     present                         past
        Simple future           simple present          simple past
        Future continuous   present continuous   past continuous
        Future perfect          present perfect         past perfect    

Basically, there are three types of tenses in the English language. These include the future tense, the present tense and the past tense. Apart from these three types, others are categories of tenses. Categories of tenses are usually in the simple, continuous and perfect forms. They are called categories of tenses because they do not show tenses; instead they show the nature/condition of each tense in the sentence.

(5.7.1) Future Tense
These are the tenses that express actions that are yet to take place. For the expression of future tense we make use of the verbs will and shall. This is because; there is no direct verb form that is marked for future tense. On the other hand, the verb, would, may be used as a complement to will and shall. Future tense can be expressed in three ways.
                                



                                             The Future Tense.

                                               Future continuous.
                      Simple future   will be ---ing                  future perfect
                    Will, shall              shall be ---ing               will have been
                         Would               would be ---ing             shall have been     
              Hope to + V     hope to be ---ing           would be
                                                                                         hope to have been

The Simple Future Tense: This expresses activities that will take place in the future in a simpler form. Example:
            - I shall write the letter on Monday.
            -  I shall have my supper by the time you come.
            - They will be in the country by next week.

The Future Continuous Tense: This tense describes an action in a continuous form, at the same time it expresses the same action in the future form. Example:
I shall be writing.        I shall be going.
You will be writing.     You will be going.
He shall be writing.     He shall be going.
She shall be writing.    She shall be going.
It shall be writing.       It shall be going.
We shall be writing.     We shall be going.
They shall be writing. They shall be going.

These are expressed in the following sentences as:
- I will be resting after the ceremony.
- The artiste will be performing tomorrow.
- I shall be finishing my examination soon.
- They will be having breakfast when we get there tomorrow.
The Future Perfect Tense: this expresses an action that is considered as though it has been concluded, but because the expression normally makes use of verbs in the future form it is not considered as a past tense. The future perfect tense expresses actions that are concluded in the future. Example:
            - I shall have been gone to school.
            - I shall have been there.
            - You will have been away from home.
            - You will have been on the way.
            - He shall have been through with sleep.
            - She shall have been come.
            - She shall have been written.
            - By this time tomorrow, I hope to have been there.

The Future Perfect Progressive Tense: when the sentences that serve the purpose of future perfect tense are used with gerunds they give birth to what we have as the future perfect progressive tense. Examples include:
            - I shall have been writing.
            - I shall have been going.
            - You will have been writing.
            - You will have been going.
            - He shall have been writing.
            - He shall have been going.
            - She shall have been writing.
            - She shall have been going

(5.7.2) The Present Tense: This is used to express activities or action in the present time.

                                                   The present tense.

                                     
                                                 Present continuous.
                        Simple present         ---ing                   Present perfect
                         Is, am, are,                                                  Has
                        Does, do etc.                                                Have

The Present Simple Tense. This is used to mark permanent and general statement, and to describe activities that are habitual. Put in another way, the present simple tense is used to express things that happen regularly, usually or often. Example:
            - The boy plays always.
            - He writes very fast.
            - They write well.
            - She cries easily.
            - Chika dances interestingly.
            - The principal’s action irritates everybody.
            - Many members trek to the church.

The Present Continuous Tense. This tense describes the actual present moment. It shows an action that begins and still takes place in the present state. In other words, it indicates the action that still continues in the present state. Example:
            - She is writing.
- She is crying.
- They are playing.
- The teacher is teaching.
- The boys are running.

The Present Perfect Tense. The present perfect tense shows that an action is completed at a given time in the present state. It reveals the action that has already been completed in the present state. Example:
            - I have written the letter.
            - She has eaten her food.
            - They have returned to the village.
            - They have brought the portrait.

The Present Perfect Progressive. This is used to describe the action that is not completed by the time it started, but continuous to the present moment. It uses the present perfect (participle) form of the verb BE (been) together with the continuous form of any active verb in the progressive (---ing form) to show such tense. Example:
            - I have been writing since today.
            - She has been drinking since morning.
            - They have been writing all day.
            - They have been coming here.

(5.7.3) The Past Tense: The past tense addresses activities or actions that take place in the past.
                                                          Past tense.



                                                       Past continuous                                        
                              The simple              ---ing                   Past perfect
                               Was, were,                                        done and been
                               Did and had

The Simple Past Tense: The simple past tense is used to express actions that had just been concluded in the past. Example:
            I wrote,            I went,                         you wrote,       you went,
            he wrote,         she went,         it wrote,           it went,            
            we wrote,         we went,          they wrote,       they went etc

The following sentences show their uses:
            - He left the market some hours ago.
            - They ate before travelling.
- She left yesterday
            - She ate before leaving

The Past Continuous Tense: This shows the expression that continues in the past. To indicate past continuous tense in a sentence, we make use of the ---ing verb form being preceded by any verb belonging to the simple past tense. Example:
            - She was going to the market when the masquerade caught her.
            - The adviser was heading to the court when she finally saw her.
            - They were eating when their mother drove off.

The past perfect tense: this explains an action which had been already concluded in the past. Past perfect tenses are realised by making use of the auxiliary verbs, had and done or any other verb intensified to its most perfected form to show that the action had existed in the past and concluded/had ended. Examples:
            - John had gone to school.
            - Uju had been to the United States before.
            - Amanda had completed her university courses.
            - Paschal had driven the car before.

One obvious factor that distinguishes each tense is the verb form. From this it becomes obvious that verb is the heart of tenses.    


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