Explain briefly about Present and Past Tense.
Answers
The present tense is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now
The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in past time. In languages which have a past tense, it thus provides a grammatical means of indicating that the event being referred to took place in the past.
Answer:
Present Tense
The present tense is a verb tense used to describe a current activity or state of being. However, somewhat unusually, the present tense can also be used to describe past and future activities.
For example:
I swim in the sea every Saturday.
(This is a current activity.)
I am happy.
(This is a current state of being)
The meeting ends at 6 o'clock.
(This is a future activity.)
A man walks into a bar. Ouch!
(This is a past activity.)
The tense of a verb is determined by when the action took place. This page is about the present tense. Here are links to the other two tensesThe
- Past Tense
- The Future Tense
Examples of the Types of Present Tense
The present tense is categorized further depending on whether the action is in progress or completed (called the aspect of a verb). The four present tenses are:
- simple present tense
- present progressive tense
- present perfect tense
- present perfect progressive
Past Tense
The past tense is a verb tense used for a past activity or a past state of being.
For example:
I jumped in the lake.
(This is a past activity.)
I was happy.
(This is a past state of being.)
The tense of a verb is determined by when the action took place. The three main tenses are:
- past tense
- present tense
- future tense
Examples of the Types of Past Tenses
The past tense is categorized further depending on whether the action was in progress or has been completed. The four past tenses are:
- simple past tense
- past progressive tense
- past perfect tense
- past perfect progressive
Explanation: