what is tense explain
Answers
Explanation:
English has a timeline and various ways of situating descriptions (sentences) on the timeline. The tenses of verbs signal the viewpoint of the narrator with respect to the time being described in the sentence.
Past tense places the description only in the past, before the narration.
>———————[THEN]—————————(NOW) - - — - - - - - - ->
Present tense tells about things that are happening now, at the moment of the narration.
>—————————————————[NOW] - - - - - - - - - - - - ->
Future tense describes what will happen at a moment in the future.
>—————————————————(NOW) - - - - - - - - - - - - [THEN] - - - >
The present perfect tense describes the present moment of the narration in terms of things in the past that led up to it.
>—————————————-[XXXXXNOW] - - - - - - - - - ->
The past perfect tense describes a specific moment in the past, before the narration, in terms of things that led up to it.
>—————————-[XXXXXTHEN]—————(NOW) - - - - ->
The future perfect tense describes a specific moment in the future, after the narration, in terms of things that will lead up to it.
>————————————————(NOW) - - - - - - - - - - - -> [XXXXXTHEN] - ->
(It is difficult for a beginning ELL to get confident about when to use the “perfect” tenses; better not to try at first, until you are comfortable with them.)*
*I have added brief descriptions of the main “perfect” tenses. It is not difficult to research great online grammar sites that explain these verb forms in detail.