ENUGU STATE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, AGBANI.

DEPARTMENT: ENGLISH AND LITERARY STUDIES

INCOURSE ASSESMENT ON INTRODUCTION TO GRAMMAR AND

COMPOSITION

GROUP 10: NNEJI CHUKWUEMERIE CYNTHIA

NNAMANI KAMSIYOCHUKWU NNENNA
NWOBODO MIRACLE KOSISO
NWIWE PEACE ADINDU
NWAFOR AMARACHI FAVOUR
NWAFOR MARY OTUOSOLUCHI
NWAFOR FORTUNE IRUOMA
NWAFOR MMERIMSINACHUKWU FAVOUR
NWABUNIKE GRACE CHIDERALUM
NWACHUKWU CALEB MMESOMA

TOPIC OF DISCUSSION: PRESENT TENSE, PAST TENSE AND PAST PERFECT

TENSE
 INTRODUCTION

What are Tenses?

Tenses are forms of verb that allows the expression of time. It
tells us when an event happened, took place or when someone did something.
Tenses denotes the characteristics of a verb in a sentence. That is, it tells the
time a specific event has happened or is going to happen.

PRESENT TENSE
Present tense expresses an action that is occurring at the moment, currently
going on or habitually performed (regularly or repeatedly).

Forms of present tenses

1) Simple present tense: simple present tense is used to describe an action

that is regular, true or normal. It is employed in a sentence to represent where
an action is taking place at the moment. Simple present tense is also called
present indefinite tense.
Examples:
● Mary reads for four hours every night.
● The federal capital of Nigeria is Abuja.
● She washes her clothes twice a week.
● The president of Nigeria lives in the Aso rock presidential villa.

2) Present continuous tense: the present continuous tense is a verb that

combines the present tense with the continuous aspect. It denotes actions
and events that are already in progress while we speak about them. It is
formed by the present tense of the verb + the present participle of the main
verb. Eg; base + ing such as, cooking, eating, dancing, etc. They are also used
in the affirmation for negative and interrogative sentences.
Examples:
● Affirmative: I am dancing.
Negative: I am not dancing.
Interrogative: am i dancing?

● Affirmative: you are dancing.

Negative: you are not dancing.
Interrogative: are you dancing?

Present continuous tense is used as follows:

1) Actions going on durning the period of time, examples:

■ Are you still living in the same building?
■ she still works with the same organization.

2) To describe actions going on at the moment

■ You are using my phone
■ He is coming to Lagos.

3) To describe an action or event in the future which has already been

planned, examples:
■ Is he coming to register?
■ I am going to the market.

4) To describe a temporary situation.

5) Makes use of always, forever, constantly, to declare and emphasize on a

continuous series of repeated action.

3) Present perfect tense: present perfect tense is used for past actions that
still continue or is related to the present. It makes use of auxiliary/helping
verbs as in; Have/has + past participle of main verb.

The present perfect tense is used as follows:

1) For statements; (have/has) + past participle. E.g:
● I have shut the door.

2) For negatives; (Have/has) + negative + past participle. E.g:

● I have not been outside since the rain started.

3) For questions; (have/ has) + subject + past participle. E.g:

● Has the woman arrived?

Examples of present perfect tense

1) He has fried eggs three times today.
2) I've have jxt finished my home work.
3) The exams have ended.
4) He has grown so much since i last saw her three years ago.
5) I have been here since 3 o' clock.
6) Nnamdi has defeated the boy.

4) Present perfect continuous tense: present perfect continuous tense is

used to talk about something that started in the past and is continuing at the
present time. The present perfect continuous tense is formed thus: has/have
been + present participle ( root form of verb + ing).
Examples of present perfect continuous tense:
1) I haven't been getting myself lately.
2) Recently, i've been misplacing my wallet.
3) Mary had been arriving late for work these days.
4) Of present, i have been relying on him.

PAST TENSE
The past tense is the verb form used to talk about something or an action that
happened in the past. For i instance when one says ,"i attended the book club".
The verb "attended" is in the past form. When something is written or spoken
in the past tense, it's describing something that happened earlier, no matter
the time it actually happened. Past tense is divided into four forms and they
are:
1) Simple past tense.
2) Past continuous tense.
3) Past perfect tense.
4) Past perfect continuous tense.

● Simple past tense: This is also called past indefinite tense and is used to
indicate finished or completed action that occurred at a specific point in time
in the past. A specific time can diverse and can cover a long period of time bit
it can notbe indeterminable. The structure of simple past tense is: (subject+
verb in the past form + adverb of time..).

Examples of simple past tense:

a) Ngozi visited Georgia last two months ago.
b) She had a job interview yesterday.
c) I licked banana few minutes ago.
d) I used to perform gymnastics when i was younger.

● Past continuous tense: This is also called the past progressive tense and
is used to demonstrate and action that was happening in the past for a period
of time in a particular context. The structure of the past progressive tense is:
(subject + was/were + verb + ing + a specific time).

Examples of past continuous tense:

a) Adanna was eating yesterday at 6:30 am.
b) I was washing the dishes at around 6:30- 7:00pm
c) When Ngozi came, i was sleeping.
d) you were screaming from behind when i went outside.

● Past perfect tense: the past perfect tense is used to demonstrate an

action that occurred before another action in the past. There are usally two
completed actions in the sentence; one occurs before the other. The structure
of the past perfect tense is: ( Subject +had + past participle form of the main
verb+ before+ subject + simple past tense). For example:
a) Chidi had completed the task before the techer asked.
b) I had bought an Ipad before you came here.

The formula for the past perfect tense can however be structured in different
ways and they are :
● ( Before + subject+ simple past tense + subject + had + past participle of
the verb).
Examples:
a) Before i went back home, i packaged the pastries for her.
b) Before i went to the office, i finished some business with her.

● (Subject + simple past tense + after + subject + had + Past participle).

Examples:
a) Nneka ate after i had bought her a cat.
b) I came as soon as had heard about the accident.

● (After + subject+ had + past participle + subject + simple past tense).

Examples:
a) After i had bought a car, he came to my house.
b) After she had gone, i came in.

● Past perfect continuous tense: this is also called the past perfect
progessive tense and it is an extension to the past perfect tense and it's
structures. Past perfect progressive tense is used to demonstrate an action
which continued for a specific point of time but stopped before another action.
The structure of the past perfect continuous tense is: (Subject + had + been +
verb + ing +..... + for/since +....+ before+ subject + past simple tense ).

Examples of the past perfect continuous tense:

a) Shawn had been playing the bass for 20 years before he retired.
b) Maagi had been living in London since 2007 before she moved to
Johannesburg in South Africa.

Past perfect tense

The past perfect tense is one of the forms of past tense. It is used to
demonstrate an action that occurred before another action in the past. There
are usally two completed actions in the sentence; one occurs before the other.
The structure or general formula of the past perfect tense is: ( Subject + had +
past participle).

The structure or formula of the past perfect tense with sentencial examples.
● Positive - (Subject + had + past participle + the rest of the sentence).
Examples:
a) I had completed my assignment before everyone else even started.
b) He had finished his food before going out to play.
c) Ana had completed all eight grades of western music by the time she was
15 years old.
d) The train had arrived on the second platform when we reached the station.

● Negative - (subject + had + not + past participle + the rest of the sentence )
Examples:
a) I had not completed my assignment.
b) She had not completed het work when her parents arrived.
c) Ngozi hadn't had the time to explain her side of the story.
d) She hadn't about him ever since.

● Interrogative - (Had + subject + past participle + the rest of the sentence)

Examples:
a) Had they arrived?
b) Had i completed my assignment before everyone else even started?
c) Had he written the letter?
d) Had she praised herself on achieving good grades?

● Negative Interrogative - (Had + Subject + not + past participle + the rest of

the sentence)
Examples:
a) Had she not caught the thief on her own?
b) Had i not prepared enough for the exam?
c) Had he not written the letter?
d) Had she not done a good job?

Uses of the Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect tense can be used to provide information about the following
scenarios:
1) To inform that an action was incompleted and not done at a specific time
in the past.
2) To denote the time until a certain point in the past.
3) To indicate the order of more than one past event.
REFERENCES

Swan. Micheal. Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Young. DJ. Introducing English Grammar. London: Hutchinson, 1988.

M. Lynne Gordon. English Verb Tenses.

Betty Schrampfer Azar. Understanding and Using English Grammar.

Laurie Rozakis. Complete idiot's Guide to Grammar and Style.

John Eastwood. Oxford Practical Grammar.

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