English Tenses

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

 Subject+ had been + verb in progressive

Past perfect continuous tense represents an ongoing action that started and continued for some time in the past.

Example:

1. Yar’adua had been seeing his doctor for two years before he died in 2009.

2. The students had been waiting for two hours when their lecturer arrived.

3. Muhammad had been teaching for four years when he resigned and joined politics

SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE

subject+ will/shall + verb (base form)

Functions of the simple future tense

The simple future refers to a time later than now and expresses facts or certainty. In this case, there is no ‘attitude’.

The simple future is used:

• To predict a future event:
  It will rain tomorrow.
• With I or We, to express a spontaneous decision:
  I will pay for the tickets by credit card.
• To express willingness:
  I will do the washing-up.
  He will carry your bag for you.
• In the negative form, to express unwillingness:
  The baby won’t eat his soup.
  I won’t leave until I’ve seen the manager!
• With I in the interrogative form using “shall” to make an offer:
  Shall I open the window?
• With We in the interrogative form using “shall”, to make a suggestion:
  Shall we go to the cinema tonight?
• With I in the interrogative form using “shall” to ask for advice or instructions:
  What shall I tell the boss about this money?
•  
• FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE

subject+ will be + verb in -ing

The Future Continuous tense is a verb tense that indicates that something will occur in the future and continue for an expected length of time.

Example

1. I will be travelling to Kano tomorrow this time 

2. We will be watching the football match 

3. The students will be sitting for their final exams in June.

FUTURE PERFECT

subject+ will have + verb in past participle

Example

1. I will have returned from Kano tomorrow by this time

2. I will have finished my project by next week.

3. I will have written the letter by breakfast time.

FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS

subject+ will have been + verb in – ing 

– To show that something will continue up until a particular event or time in the future

Example:

1. I will have been teaching for six years by September 2022

2. The students will have been waiting for two hours by 10.00 am

3. We will have been playing for one hour by 10:30

In summary

1. simple present: I drive.

2. present cont: I’m driving.

3. present perfect: I have driven.

4. Present perfect continuous I have been driving.

5. simple past: I drove.

6. past cont: I was driving.

7. past perfect: I had driven.

8. past perfect cont: I had been driving.

9. simple future: I will drive.

10. future cont: I will be driving.

11. future perfect: I will have driven.

12. future perfect continuous: I will have been driving.

Concluded

Nuru Aliyu Bauchi wrote from Bauchi via nurubh2015@gmail.com.

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

Subject + has/have + verb (past participle)

The present perfect tense refers to an action or state that either occurred at an indefinite time in the past (e.g., we have talked before) or began in the past and continued to the present time (e.g., he has grown impatient over the last hour). This tense is formed by have/has + the past participle.

Examples

1. Nuruddeen has eaten the food.

2. The students have gone home.

3. The timekeeper has rung the bell.

We can turn the above sentences into either interrogative or negative. 

Examples

1. Has Nuruddeen eaten the food?   Nuruddeen has not eaten the food.

2. Have the students gone home?   The students have not gone home.

3. Has the timekeeper rung the bell?  The timekeeper has not rung the bell.

NOTE: Present perfect tense is not used with a specific time

Examples

1. I have finished my PhD today. (wrong)

2. Nuru has seen a snake this morning. (wrong)

3. I have put away all the laundry at 10:00 this morning. (wrong)

4. They have delivered the letter yesterday. (wrong)

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Subject  + has/have been. + verb (ing)

The present perfect continuous tense (also known as the present perfect progressive tense) shows that something started in the past and continues at present. The present perfect continuous is formed using the construction has/have been + the present participle (root + -ing).   

Examples

1. The dog has been barking since morning.

2. The students have been playing for 30 minutes.

3. I have been teaching for ten years.

SIMPLE PAST  TENSE

Subject + verb  in past form (-ed in regular verbs)

The simple past tense describes a completed activity that happened in the past. In other words, it started in the past and ended in the past. For example:

1. I watched the movie last night.

2. We saw a snake in the morning.

3. The man painted the house green.

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

The Past Continuous tense is essential in English. We use it to say what we were in the middle of doing at a particular moment in the past. 

       1. I was working at 10 pm last night.

       2. They were not playing football at 9 am this morning.

       3.  What were you doing at 10 pm last night?

       4. What were you doing when he arrived?

       5. She was cooking when I telephoned her.

       6. We were having dinner when it started to rain.

      7.  Rabiu went home early because it was snowing.

PAST PERFECT

Subject. + had  + verb in past participle (eaten,taken, drunk, seen,flown,grown etc)

The past perfect tense describes a completed activity in the past. It is used to emphasize that an action was completed before another action took place. For example:

1. Musa had baked a cake before you arrived.

2. They had painted the fence before I had a chance to speak to them.

3. The boy had died before the doctor arrived.

4. I had worked with the company for five years before I resigned in 2019.

5. The students had played football before the rain started. 

To be concluded

Nuru Aliyu

ATAP CONSULTS BAUCHI

nurubh2015@gmail.com

By Nuru Aliyu Bauchi

Permit me a little space in your new but rapidly growing and widely read newspaper to contribute from my little knowledge of English on English Tenses. Tenses are among the most important but often neglected and poorly mastered topics, even among graduates of the English language. Two incidents involving two graduates of the English language from different universities recently made me dumbfounded.

The first incident was a Corp member posted to serve at one of the secondary schools in my home state. I asked her to list the twelve English tenses but could only provide five (not accordingly). She confessed that the last time she had a lesson on tenses was in secondary school. The second was another graduate of English seeking a teaching job. I was one of the interviewers. Again, I asked her to list and exemplify the twelve English tenses. Likewise, she could only supply four randomly. I always wonder what is so tricky in mastering English tenses, considering that one must use them whenever one writes or speaks. 

We have three (3) main tenses. These are 1. Present tense 2. Past tense 3. Future tense. Each of the three tenses has four (4) aspects, as can be seen below:

PRESENT TENSE

1. simple present tense

2. Present continuous tense

3. Present perfect tense

4. Present perfect continuous tense

SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

This tense expresses habitual/repeated actions, general truth, sports commentary, or news heading. Infinite or ‘s form of a  verb is used alongside the subject (noun or pronoun). If the subject is either first person (I, we) or second person (you) or third person plural (they), use an infinitive form (go, wash, brush, fly, teach). But, if the subject is third person singular (he, she, it, Nuru, the boy, the teacher) or any singular indefinite pronoun (each, one of the…, everybody, someone etc.), use and ‘s form ( goes, washes, brushes, flies, teaches).

In other words, if the subject is singular, use a singular verb, while if the subject is plural, use a plural verb. REMEMBER that singular nouns do not have an ‘s (bag, boy, car, house), but singular verbs have an ‘s or ‘es( teaches, goes, cooks, sweeps, etc.). E.g., Subject + verb(s).

Example

1. Nuru goes to school every day.

2. The children play football every day.

3. Dogs bark.

4. I like ice cream.

5. Mr president presents the 2022 budget.

6. Everybody knows the answer.

COMMON MISTAKES

1. I goes to school (wrong)

2. He brush his teeth every day (wrong)

3. Musa teach English language (wrong)

PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE

This tense is a bit simple because it has only subject+auxiliary verb (is or are ) + verb in -ing form. This tense is used for ongoing activities.

Example

1. The boy is reading.

2. The girl is cooking.

3. The students are writing.

4. We are jumping

5. He is sleeping

COMMON MISTAKES

One should be careful to avoid using nouns and pronouns together as follows

1. Adamu he is reading. (wrong)

2. Zainab she is cooking. (wrong)

To be continued

Nuru Aliyu Bauchi teaches at Abubakar Tatari Ali Polu (ATAP), Bauchi State. He can be reached via nurubh2015@gmail.com.