ENGLISH TENSES LEARNING

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Tenses:

There are Three Basic Tenses in the English:

1. Present Tense
2. Past Tense
3. Future Tense

Every Basic Tense has four Sub-Tenses:

1. Simple or Indefinite Tense
2. Continuous or Progressive Tense
3. Perfect Tense
4. Perfect Continuous Tense

Example:

1. Present Simple or Present Indefinite Tense
2. Present Continuous or Present Progressive Tense
3. Present Perfect Tense
4. Present Perfect Continuous Tense
5. Past simple or Past indefinite Tense
6. Past Continuous or Past Progressive Tense
7. Past Perfect Tense
8. Past Perfect Continuous Tense
9. Future simple or Future Indefinite Tense
10. Future Continuous or Future Progressive Tense
11. Future Perfect Tense
12. Future Perfect Continuous Tense

Every Sub-Tense has four types of sentences:

1. Affirmative or Positive Sentences
2. Negative Sentences
3. Interrogative Sentences
4. Negative Interrogative Sentences

So we can make positive, negative, interrogative sentences, simply by the putting of Verbs, Question words or Helping Verbs.

Present Simple or Present Indefinite Tense:

In the Positive or Affirmative sentence of Simple Present or Indefinite Tense. We use only the Base Form or the Base form + “s, es“.

Affirmative or Positive Sentences

Structure

1. The Subject is used.
2. Base Form is used.
3. With Singular Subject (Ali, John, Ahmad) and Third Person Singular Pronoun (he, she, it). We always use the Base Form + “s, es“
4. Object is used.

Examples of Base Form & “s, es”:

1. I go to School.
2. You write a letter.
3. We go to London.
4. They come here in June.
5. He goes to school.
6. She writes a letter.
7. It tells us something.
8. Ahmad comes here at 2 PM.

Note: We cannot use the Helping Verb in Affirmative or Positive sentences. We will use only the Base Form or the Base Form + “s, es” wherever we need.

Negative Sentences:

• Usually we use Base Form and Base Form + “s, es“. But in Negative Sentences we use Helping Verb (do, does). When can we use “do” and when can we use “does”? What is “does”? Actually it is the “do” with ‘es” => “Do+es= Does”. So whenever we use “do or does” then we cannot add “s, es” with Base Form.

Examples:

1. He does not go to school.
2. You do not write a letter.

Structure:

1. Subject is used.
2. “Do not/Does not” is used.
3. With Singular Subject or Third Person Singular Pronoun, we use “does not”. With others we use “do not”
4. Base Form is used.
5. Object is used.
   

   Examples of “do not”

1. They do not go to college.
2. You do not the Spanish language.
3. I do not know anything about you.
4. We do not go to London in the June.Examples of “does not”

1. He does not write a letter.
2. She does not wash the cloths.
3. It does not help us.

Note: In Negative Sentence, we always use Helping Verb “do, does”. Whenever we use the Helping Verb, we use only the Base Form. We cannot use the Base Form + “s, es”.

Interrogative Sentences:

• We can use Question words too (what, why, when, where, which, who, whom, how). All these words are called Question words. After the question words, we always use the Helping Verb if it is required in the sentence.
• Examples: What do you want to know? Where do you want to go? When does she come?

Structure:

1. Question words or “do or does” is used.
2. Subject is used.
3. Base Form is used.
4. Object is used.
5. Sign of Interrogation (?) is used.

Examples of “do” with question words.

1. Do you want to learn English?
2. When do you want to learn English?
3. Where do you want to learn English?
4. Where do you live?
5. Why do you want to go to London?

Examples of “does” with questions words.

1. Does she go to school?
2. Does he write a letter?
3. Where does she live?
4. Why does he go to Murree in the June?

Negative Interrogative Sentences:

There are two conditions of these sentences.

• Without Contractions
• With Contractions

Whenever we will use the contractions then we will add “not” after the subject. When we will not use the contractions then we cannot add ”not” after the subject.

Structure:

1. Questions words or “do, does”.
2. Subject is used.
3. “Not” is used.
4. Base Form is used.
5. Object is used.
6. Sign of Interrogation (?).

Examples without contractions

1. Do they not go to school?
2. Does she not writing a letter?
3. Why does he not go to school?

Examples of Contractions

1. Don’t they go to school?
2. Doesn’t she write a letter?
3. Why doesn’t he go to school?

Present Continuous Tense:

• Present Continuous Tense is about the work. In this tense, we can easily understand that something is going on, something in progress, still it is working. That’s why, it is also known as Present Progressive Tense as well.
• We always use the “Present Participle” with the “Be Verb” in Present Continuous or Present Progressive Tense.

Affirmative or Positive Sentences:

Structure:

• The subject is used.
• Be verb (is, am, are) is used.
• Present Participle is used.
• Object is used.

Examples:

• I am going to school.
• She is writing a letter.
• He is driving a car.
• They are going to Murree.

We can easily understand that all these sentences show the progress in a certain work.

Negative Sentences:

We use “not” after the “Be Verbs”

Structure

• Subject is used.
• Be Verbs are used (is, am, are).
• “Not” is used in Negative Sentences.
• Present Participle is used.
• Object is used.

Examples:

• I am not going to school.
• They are not eating the apples.
• We are not making the fun of anyone.
• He is driving a car.
• She is washing the cloths.

Interrogative Sentences:

We use the Question words before the ‘Be Verbs’. (Question words are “what, where, when, why, who, whom, which, how” etc.)

Structure:

• Question words/Be Verbs. (we can add question words before the be verbs if it is necessary).
• Subject is used.
• Present Participle is used.
• Object is used.
• Sign of Interrogation (?) is used.

Examples:

• Are they going to school?
• Is he writing a letter?
• Am I going to Murree or Islamabad?
• With question words
• Where are you going?
• What is he doing?
• Who is coming here?

Negative Interrogative Sentences:

• There are two conditions of negative interrogative sentences.
• We cannot use contractions.
• We can use the contractions.
• Whenever we will use the contractions then we cannot add “not” after the subject in Negative Interrogative sentences.

Examples with contractions and without contractions.

• Are they not going to school?
• Aren’t they going to school?
• Is he not laughing?
• Isn’t he laughing?

Structure:

• Question word/ Be verb is used.
• Subject is used.
• “not” is used.
• Present participle is used.
• Object is used.
• Sign of interrogation (?) is used.

Examples:

• Is he not going to school?
• Is she not writing a letter?
• Are they not coming to the university?
• Aren’t we eating the apples?
  Isn’t he going to school?

 Present Perfect Tense:

We always use the “Past Participle” with the “have/has” in Present Perfect Tense.

Affirmative or Positive Sentences

Structure:

• The subject is used.
• “Have or Has” is used.
• Past Participle is used.
• Object is used.

Examples:

• I have gone to school.
• She has written a letter.
• He has done his work.
• They have played hockey.

Negative Sentences:

We use “not” after the “have/has”.

Structure:

• Subject is used.
• “Have or has” is used.
• “Not” is used in negative sentences.
• Past Participle is used.
• Object is used.

Examples:

• I have not gone to school.
• They have not eaten the apples.
• We have not made the fun of anyone.
• He has not done his work.
• She has not washed the cloths.

Interrogative Sentences:

We can use also the Question words before the ‘have/has’. (Question words are “what, where, when, why, who, whom, which, how” etc.)

Structure:

• Question words or have/has. (we can add question words before the have/has, if it is necessary).
• Subject is used.
• Past Participle is used.
• Object is used.
• Sign of interrogation (?) is used.

Examples:

• Have they gone to school?
• Has he written a letter?
• Have I gone to Murree or Islamabad?

Use with the question words:

• Where have you gone?
• What has he done?
• Who has come at home?

Negative Interrogative Sentences:

• There are two conditions of negative interrogative sentences.
• We cannot use contractions.
• We can use the contractions.
• Whenever we will use the contractions then we cannot add “not” after the subject in Negative Interrogative sentences.

Examples with Contractions and without Contractions:

• Have they not gone to school?
• Haven’t they gone to school?
• Has he not written a letter?
• Hasn’t he written a letter?

Structure:

• Question word/ Have or Has” is used.
• Subject is used.
• “Not” is used.
• Past Participle is used.
• Object is used.
• Sign of interrogation (?) is used.

Examples:

• Has he not gone to school?
• Has she not written a letter?
• Have they not come to the university?
• Haven’t we eaten the apples?
• Hasn’t he gone to school?

Present Perfect Continuous Tense:

We always use the “Present Participle” with the “have been/has been” in Present Perfect Continuous Tense.

Affirmative or Positive Sentences:

Structure:

• The Subject is used.
• “Have Been or Has Been” is used.
• “Present Participle” is used.
• “Object” is used.
• “Since/For” is used with the rules.

Examples:

• I have been going to school since 2003.
• She has been writing a letter for 2 hours.
• He has been working for 6 weeks.
• They have been playing hockey since 7th class.^.

Negative Sentences:

We will use “not” after the “have/has”.

Structure:

• Subject is used.
• “Have not or Has not” is used.
• “Been” is used.
• Present Participle is used.
• Object is used.
• “Since, For” is used.

Examples:

• I have not been going to school since 2003.
• She has not been writing a letter for 2 hours.
• He has not been working for 6 weeks.
• They have not been playing hockey since 7th class.

Interrogative Sentences:

We can use also the Question words before the ‘have/has’. (Question words are “what, where, when, why, who, whom, which, how” etc.)

Structure:

• Question words/ Have, Has. (we can add question words before the Have, Has, if it is necessary).
• Subject is used.
• “Been” is used.
• Present Participle is used.
• Object is used.
• Sign of interrogation (?) is used.

Examples:

• Have they been going to school since June?
• Has he been writing a letter for 2 hours?
• Have I been going to Dubai since 1992?

Use with the question words:

• Where have you been going to school since June?
• What has he been doing for 2 hours?
• Who has been coming at home for couple of weeks?

Negative Interrogative Sentences:

• There are two conditions of negative interrogative sentences.
• We cannot use contractions.
• We can use the contractions.
• Whenever we use the contractions then we cannot add “not” after the subject in Negative Interrogative sentences.

Examples with Contractions and without Contractions:

• Have they not been going to school since June?
• Haven’t they been going to school since June?
• Has he not been writing a letter for 2 hours?
• Hasn’t he been writing a letter for 2 hours?

Structure:

• Question word or have/has” is used
• Subject is used
• “Not” is used
• “Been” is used
• Present Participle is used
• Object is used
• Sign of interrogation is used (?)

Examples:

• Has he not been going to school since August?
• Has she not been writing a letter for 2 hours?
• Have they not been coming to the university for 2 days?
• Haven’t we been eating the apples since morning?
• Hasn’t he bee going to school since yesterday?