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Tenses 1

In this video, we review verb tenses. First, we will discuss the main tenses, and then the important idea of verb ‘aspect’. Finally, we note some special cases in verb tense and why you should not directly translate verbs from your own language into English.

Main tenses

In grammar, the word ‘tense’ refers to the time period in which the  of a sentence places an action. Like many languages, English has verb forms which correspond to:

• Past
• Present, and
• Future

Strictly speaking, English doesn’t have a future ‘tense’ but we do have many ways of talking about the future such as the modal verb ‘will’ and structures like ‘going to’. The table on the screen gives some examples of past, present and future forms.

Verb aspect

You are probably already quite familiar with these tenses and verb forms. But in addition to this basic idea of ‘tense’, there is also the important idea of ‘aspect’. In English, there are three aspects: simple, continuous and perfect. The simple aspect expresses the idea of a complete or habitual action. We have already seen this aspect in the previous examples.

The continuous aspect, (which is sometimes called the progressive), includes the “ING” form of the verb. It expresses the idea that something is not complete, is ongoing, or is temporary. Here are some examples.

The sentence “I was analysing the results when my laptop crashed” means that the analysis of results in the past was not complete at the time when the laptop crashed. If we used the simple aspect instead, “I analysed the results when my laptop crashed”, the meaning would be different and suggest a different order or events.

The sentence “I am writing an assignment about the environment” means that it is an ongoing action around now but it is not finished yet.

We can also the continuous to emphasise that something is temporary. For example, “I’m living in Brisbane at the moment” compared to “I live in China”, which sounds more permanent.

You should note that some verbs are not usually used in continuous forms, such as the ones on the screen. These verbs generally refer to states, perceptions and thought processes:

• state verbs like ‘be’, belong, need, own
• verbs of perceptions such as smell; see; hear as well as
• verbs about believing such as believe, know, and understand.

The third aspect is called the perfect aspect. This shows that something has been (or will be) completed prior to another action or a stated time. Here are some examples.

In the sentence, “I had analysed the results when I realised we had made an error in the method”, it is clear that the analysis happened before the person realised.

In the second example, “I have analysed the results and am ready to present them to the group” means that the analysis happened at some point in the past up to now. We don’t really care when—and we don’t’ say when exactly. The present perfect means some time before the present.

The continuous and perfect aspects can be combined to form more complex verb forms, like the ones shown on the screen.

Compare “I had analysed the results when I realised we had made an error in the method” with “I had been analysing the results for several hours when I realised we had made an error in the method”.

Both show that the analysis happened before the error was noticed, so both use the past perfect but the second shows that the analysis is finished whereas in the first it is not. The first shows an interrupted or incomplete action by its use of the continuous aspect.

Special cases

Now let’s look at some examples of rule variation. Consider these examples:

• The flight leaves at 10am tomorrow morning.
• Are you reading any good books at the moment?
• If I were to study again, I would study computing.

In the first example, the verb is in the present tense but this sentence describes a future timetabled action.

In the second example, the verb is in the present continuous tense but this question is usually asked of someone who is not doing that activity at that moment.

In the last example, the first verb (‘were’) is in the past tense, but this sentence does not actually refer to a time in the past. Instead, it refers to a hypothetical time, as indicated by the word ‘if’, which has created a conditional clause.

These examples illustrate some of the finer details - or nuances - of English, by varying rules according to usage. These may be unique to English, and this is why you should be careful of translating directly to English from your language. Also remember that choosing the right verb form depends not only on grammatical correctness, but also on what you want to emphasise, and what is typically used in each situation; in other words, usage.

Summary

In this video, we have reviewed a number of tenses in English and the idea of ‘aspect’. In English, a lot of meaning is conveyed via verb tenses so it is important to get them right. Make sure you look through your writing and lecturers’ or tutors’ comments to see which tenses you have the most problems with, and always check them before you submit your assignments. Now look at the video on Verb Tenses Part 2, which looks at some of the most common verb tense usage in academic writing.