ENG - TENSES PREFINALS Flashcards
Habitual actions in the present:
Simple Present Tense
She walks to school every day.
General timeless truths (physical laws or customs):
Simple Present Tense
With every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
A body at rest remains at rest, and a body in motion remains in motion.
With be and other stative verbs to indicate states
Simple Present Tense
The car belongs to Bill.
There is a large house on the corner.
I know Mr. Jackson.
In the subordinate clauses of time or condition when
the main clause contains a future-time verb
Simple Present Tense
When you get home, we will watch a movie.
Expresses future (when a scheduled event is involved, usually with a future-time adverbial):
Simple Present Tense
I have a meeting on Wednesday.
Present event/action (usually in sporting events/procedures of some sort):
Simple Present Tense
Now I beat the egg whites until they are soft and fluffy.
Present speech acts (where the action is accomplished in the speaking of it):
Simple Present Tense
I declare amity between our country and theirs.
Conversational historical present (used to refer to certain past events in narration):
Simple Present Tense
He bows his head and makes a peace sign.
also states facts but adds a sense of remoteness (Knowles 1979)
The “remoteness” comes in the feeling that the event is over and done with.
simple past
A definite single completed event/action in the past:
simple past
I attended a meeting of that committee last week.
Habitual or repeated action/event in the past:
simple past
it rained every week last year
An event with duration that applied in the past with the implication that it no longer applies in the present:
simple past
Mr. Montgomery taught in the university for 30 years
Mrs. M worked at the bakeshop for 2 months
With states in the past
simple past
He appeared to be a creative genius.
He owed me a lot of money.
Imaginative conditional in the subordinate clause (referring to present time):
simple past
If he took better care of himself, he wouldn’t be so absent so often.
social distancing
simple past
Did you want to sit down and stay for a while?
a. An action to take place at some definite future time:
simple future
She will graduate next year
A future habitual action or state:
Simple future
After this semester, she will wake up at 5 am since her classes will start at 7
A situation that may obtain in the present and will obtain in the future but with the future termination in sight (notice here it is not the will that suggests the limitation on the event, but the subordinate clause):
Simple future
John will work for his father until he learns his lesson.
In the main (result) clause of future conditionals:
Simple future
If you do not submit this project, you will fail.
situation that began at a prior point in time and continues into the present:
Present Perfect
I have been a doctor since 2011
I have had a cold for two weeks.