TENSES
Simple present
- Habitual actions
- General truths
- Permanent situations
Bv. My father runs his own company.
Present progressive
- Temporary situations
- Trend
- Developments
Bv. She is working for Merill Lynch
Past tense
- Definite time
- Period in the past
- Time indications: ten years ago, in 1998, last week
He joined the bank in 1991.
Present perfect
- An event or a period that is perceived as continuing up to now
- Time indications: over the past few years, since then, so far, yet
Consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest level in two years.
Present perfect simple vs present perfect progressive
- Simple: to stress the outcome of the actions
- Progressive: to stress the action itself
The committee has closely monitored the economic impacts.
o They want to know what these are => the outcome
We have been monitoring the situation very closely over the last
12 months.
o An ongoing activity => the action itself
Past perfect
- Refers to completed actions that happened before other events in
the past.
Gasoline prices nationwide continued to ease in early August, falling
to $2.84 a gallon. Three months earlier, prices had spiked.
Often used in indirect speech when the reporting verb is in the past tense.
- Mr. Dawe added: “Turnover has risen 7.8%”
- Mr. Dawe added that turnover had risen 7.8%
Simple present
- Habitual actions
- General truths
- Permanent situations
Bv. My father runs his own company.
Present progressive
- Temporary situations
- Trend
- Developments
Bv. She is working for Merill Lynch
Past tense
- Definite time
- Period in the past
- Time indications: ten years ago, in 1998, last week
He joined the bank in 1991.
Present perfect
- An event or a period that is perceived as continuing up to now
- Time indications: over the past few years, since then, so far, yet
Consumer confidence has fallen to its lowest level in two years.
Present perfect simple vs present perfect progressive
- Simple: to stress the outcome of the actions
- Progressive: to stress the action itself
The committee has closely monitored the economic impacts.
o They want to know what these are => the outcome
We have been monitoring the situation very closely over the last
12 months.
o An ongoing activity => the action itself
Past perfect
- Refers to completed actions that happened before other events in
the past.
Gasoline prices nationwide continued to ease in early August, falling
to $2.84 a gallon. Three months earlier, prices had spiked.
Often used in indirect speech when the reporting verb is in the past tense.
- Mr. Dawe added: “Turnover has risen 7.8%”
- Mr. Dawe added that turnover had risen 7.8%
