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What are Tenses? Name the different kinds of Tenses with example.
Answers
Answer:
The verb that refers to an action in present time is said to be in present tense. The verb that refers to an action in past time is said to be in past tense. The verb that refers to an action in future time is said to be in future tense.
Thus, there are three main tenses: present, past and future.
All tenses have four forms. This can be explained as below:
In present tense:
I read. [Simple Present]
I am reading. [Present Continuous]
I have read; [Present Perfect]
I have been reading. [Present Perfect Continuous]
In sentence 1, the verb shows that the action is mentioned simply, without anything being said about the completeness or incompleteness of the action.
In sentence 2, the verb shows that the action is mentioned as incomplete or continuous, that is, still going on.
In sentence 3, the verb shows that the action is mentioned as finished, complete, or perfect, at the time of speaking.
In sentence 4, the verb is present perfect continuous as the verb shows that the action is going on continuously, and not completed at this present time.
Similarly, the forms change in past tense as:
I read; [Simple Past]
I was reading; [Past Continuous]
I had read; [Past Perfect]
I had been reading. [Past Perfect Continuous]
Also, in future tense, the forms are:
I shall/will read; [Simple Future]
I shall/will be reading; [Future Continuous]
I shall/will have read; [Future Perfect]
I shall have been reading. [Future Perfect Continuous].
Tenses are the forms of the verb that are used to show the time of action expressed by the verb.
There are three types of tenses :
1) Past tense
2) Present tense
3) Future tense