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2.8.2: Non-Continuous Tenses (Active Voice)

  • Page ID
    122042
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    Non-Continuous Tenses (Active Voice)

    Simple Present Tense

    I
    You           study
    We            eat
    They         watch                    all the time.
    ---------------------------             every morning.
    He            studies                  in the evening.
    She          eats
    It             watches

           The simple present tense is used in situations that occur generally.  They happen all the time or only sometimes, but they are not happening right now.  It is also called the habitual present tense because it refers to habits or general truth actions.

    Simple Past Tense

    I
    He
    She        studied           three years ago.
    It           ate                 yesterday morning.
    We         watched          last night.
    You
    They

           The simple past tense is used for situations that are finished and the time must also be finished.  It says that something began and ended. 

    Simple Future Tense and Other Modal Verbs

    I
    He         ought to study           many more hours.
    She        will study                  next year.
    It           will eat                      tomorrow morning.
    We         might watch             tomorrow night.
    You        must study               in the library.
    They

           The simple future tense is used for actions in the future.  Besides “will,” all of the other modal verbs and quasi modal verbs may be used with a future meaning. 

    Present Perfect Tense

    I
    You           have studied
    We            have eaten
    They          have watched             for many years.
                                                      since he was a boy.
    He             has studied                all day long.
    She           has eaten
    It              has watched

           The present perfect tense is used for situations that began in the past, continue to the present, and may continue into the future.  It may also be used for situations that began at some indefinite time in the past.

    Past Perfect Tense

    I
    He
    She        had studied          for an hour before I went to bed.
    It           had eaten            with some friends when I decided to come home.
    We         had watched        in high school when I started college.
    You
    They

           The past perfect tense is used when two related situation occur at different times in the past.  The action that happened first uses the past perfect; the action that happened second uses the simple past tense. 

    Future Perfect Tense

    I
    He
    She         will have studied              all day long in the library before I go out tonight.
    It            will have eaten                with some friends before I get home.
    We          will have watched            in school by the time you have dinner.
    You
    They

           The future perfect tense is used when two related actions occur in the future at different times.  First one action will occur and then the other action will occur.  The action that happens first uses the future perfect tense; the action that happens second uses the simple present tense.


    This page titled 2.8.2: Non-Continuous Tenses (Active Voice) is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Don Bissonnette.