3.3: Non-continuous Tenses

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Don Bissonnette
South Seattle Community College

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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 with Will 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.