How to express 'tense' in English using Past - Present - Future
Learn English with Mr Duncan in England.
One of the most confusing parts of learning English
is understanding the use of tense.
The most common form of English tense concerns expressing when things occur.
The three most common points of tense relate to things that have already occurred in the past.
Things that are happening right now in the present,
and things that will happen in the future.
Put simply... past tense,
present tense,
and future tense.
When expressing past tense
we are showing that something has already occurred.
It has already happened.
Something was done.
It has already occurred.
It was carried out.
It has already been done.
Present tense refers to things that are happening at the moment.
Present tense expresses the occurrence of something as it happens,
it is happening right now.
It is taking place at this moment.
The present is now.
It is happening as I am expressing the action.
We often use the word ‘now’ to express something that is happening in the present moment.
It is happening now.
Finally, we have future tense,
which refers to anything that will happen in the future.
It will occur later.
Something that has been planned will often be expressed using future tense.
It will happen.
It will be done.
It will occur.
It is going to happen.
It did not happen in the past.
It is not happening now.
It will happen later in the future.
One of the main problems with using tense in English
occurs when we try to translate sentences from other languages.
It would be fair to say that in some languages,
the form of tense does not occur, or it occurs differently.
However, it is easy to learn English tense quite quickly,
Once you remember the basic rules...
something was done.
It happened in the past.
Something is happening now.
It is happening in the present,
and something will happen in the future.
It is going to happen.
It will happen.