7.2: Verb Tenses: Active Voice
- Page ID
- 5824
SIMPLE TENSES
SIMPLE PRESENT
\[\text{General facts, states of being, scheduled events in the future, and repeated actions}\; = \text{base form or –s form}\]
- Teachers often grade late into the night.
- Water becomes ice at 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Celebrities donate to hundreds of charities every year.
- The plane departs tonight at 9:00 p.m.
SIMPLE PAST
\[\text{Completed actions from the past that occurred at a specific time or facts/states of being that occurred in the past} = \text{base form} + \text{-ed/-d/irregular form}\]
- Their neighbors worked together to rebuild the house.
- He drove across country to prove a point.
- When she was young, my sister played with me all the time.
SIMPLE FUTURE
\[\text{Future actions, predictions, or promises} = \text{will} + \text{base form}\]
- I will eat in a few minutes.
- The rain will stop any second now.
SIMPLE PROGRESSIVE FORMS
PRESENT PROGRESSIVE
\[\text{Actions that are happening right now, but not happening forever or future actions} = \text{am, is, are} + \text{present participle}\]
- The teachers are meeting in the boardroom. Josie is meeting the principal.
- We are baking cookies tomorrow.
PAST PROGRESSIVE
\[\text{Actions that happened at a specific time in the past or past plans that didn’t happen} = \text{was, were/was going to, were going to} + \text{present participle}\]
- They were sailing when the hurricane hit.
- I was going to fly out tonight, but couldn’t get a ticket.
PERFECT TENSES
PRESENT PERFECT
\[\text{Repetitive or constant actions that began in the past but are still happening or actions that happened at an unspecified time in the past} = \text{has, have} + \text{past participle}\]
- I have loved dogs since I was a child.
- Alex has lived in the UK for over a year.
- Stephanie has bought three cars in three years.
PAST PERFECT
\[\text{Actions that occurred/began before something else in the past} = \text{had} + \text{past participle}\]
He had just choked when the ambulance drove by.
PERFECT PROGRESSIVE FORMS
PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE
\[\text{Continuous actions that began in the past but are still occurring} = \text{has, have} + \text{been} + \text{past participle}\]
Ygritte has been trying to learn knitting for years.
PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE
\[\text{Actions that began and continued in the past until some other action in the past occurred} = \text{had} + \text{been} + \text{present participle}\]
By the time I moved to Klamath Falls, I had been writing for ten years.