Tense
Verbs are the heart of sentences. This is because without verbs sentences will not make a complete
sense. They change into inflectional forms to indicate the sense and the time an action takes place. It is
the change in the form of a verb to indicate time that we called tense whether the action took place in
the past, takes place in the present, or will take place in the future.
Examples:
She ate yam =Past tense.
She eats yam - Present tense.
She will eat yam =future tense
The three sentences above tell us when the action takes place. Sixteen tenses are known in English
resulting from the three major tenses: past, present and future.
The Simple Present Tense
This is used to express an action that happens now, habitual action and an accepted fact, i.e.
a. She eats food.
b. She goes to school every Tuesday.
c. The sun shines.
The Present Continuous Tense
This is used to express an action that is happening at the time of speaking or writing.
a. She is eating.
b. She is dancing in the room.
c. The girl is writing to her mother.
The Present Perfect Tense:
This is used to expess an action that has been completed. The action of present perfect is not in remote
past but rather has just completed. Examples:
a. I have eaten.
b. He has arrived since 3.00pm.
c. The boy has gone to the market.
The Present Perfect Continuous Tense:
This tells of an action that has been going on and still taking place at the time of speaking or writing.
Examples:
a. She has been eating.
b. He has been dancing for a long tine.
c. She bas been talking since morning.
The Simple Past Tense:
lt expresses a complete action in the past. It has no connection with the present.
Examples:
a. She ate the food.
b. She danced throughout the party.
c. She cooked food yesterday.
The Past Continuous Tense:
It is used to express how long an action lasted at a particular time in the past.
Examples:
a. We had been dancing.
b. We had been advising him before he was arrested for drug pushing.
c. She had been resting since yesterday.
The Past Perfect Tense:
before another past action commenced or took place. This is used to express a completed action in the
past.
Examples:
a. She had come before the gold got lost.
b. After she had left the house, the man died
c. We had eaten the food before we came
The Past Perfect Continuous Tense
This is used for an action which began and had been in progress
before another action started.
Examples:
a. When I went to Abuja in 1990, Anthonia had been
staying there for five years.
b. When I returned home, my sister had been reading the nov
for three hours.
c. When our father came, we had been sleeping for a long time.
Simple Future Tense:
This shows an action that will happens in the future.
Examples:
a. We shall dance.
b. They shall go to the market as soon as they getmoney.
c. I will pay the money into your account.
Future Continuous Tense:
This tense expresses future activities that will be taking place at a particular time in the future.
Examples:
We shall be writing our examinationby may next year
a. We shall be traveling for Christmas.
b. We shali be playing football in the next 30 minutes.
The future Perfect Tense:
This is used to express an action that will be completed before another in the future or at a particular
time in the future.
Examples:
a. I shall have eaten my dinner by the time you reach Abuja.
b. I shall have.visited my aunt by the time you armived.
c. The president will have arrived before rnorning.
The Future Perfect Continuous Tense
This is used for an action going on in future and it will continue to
a certain time in future.
Examples:
a. When she completes her degree, she will have been doing her research in the university for two
years.
b. They will have been building the house for five years by next year.
c. By next July, she will have been working in the bank for
five years.
