ense of Verbs The word tense comes from the Latin word, tempus, which means "time.

" The tense of a verb shows the time when an action or condition occurred. In English the tense also may provide emphasis and may determine whether or not an action or condition was continuous or repetitive. There are fourteen tenses in modern English. There are three basic tenses: past, present, and future. They show whether a simple action or condition occurred, occurs, or will occur in the past, present, or future. There are three perfect tenses: past perfect, present perfect, and future perfect. They show whether an action or condition had occurred relative to the past, has occurred relative to the present, or will have occurredrelative to the future. There are six progressive tenses: past progressive, present progressive, future progressive, past perfect progressive, present perfect progressive, and future perfect progressive. They show a continuous action or condition that was occurring in the past, is occurring in the present, will be occurring in the future, had been occurring relative to the past, has been occurring relative to the present, or will have been occurring relative to the future. There are two emphatic tenses: past emphatic and present emphatic. They provide emphasis especially in questions and negatives for actions or conditions that did occur in the past or that do occur in the present. In the above explanations the verb to occur was conjugated in each of the fourteen tenses respectively. For more on each type of tense, see the individual entry in the glossary. Some authorities consider verbs formed with the conditional auxiliary verbs as one or several conditional tenses to show actions that could occur, might occur, should occur, would occur, could have occurred, might have occurred, should have occurred, and would have occurred. They also can refer to something that has happened in the past after the main action (a "future past"). Other authorities consider could, might, should,and would as simply the past or perfect forms of the verbs can, may, shall, and will. Conditional: I wish she would answer me. Past Tense: Little did he realize that in twenty years he would be president.

asic Tenses The basic or simple tenses are the three tenses which are the simplest in the English language--past, present, future, without any other condition or character. The basic present tense uses the same verb as the verb part of the infinitive. In the third person singular an -s or -es is added. There are a number of irregular verbs, but they all have an s or z sound at the end of the third person singular. The basic past tense is a single word. Usually a -d or -ed is added to the root verb to put it in the past. However, there are many irregular verbs. All persons, singular and plural are the same except for the verb to be in which all persons are were but first and third person singular are was. The future tense is formed by adding the present form to the auxiliary verb will or shall. All persons, singular and plural, are the same.
Present Regular: I like he likes Irregular: I have he has Past I liked : he liked I had he had Future I will like he will like I will go he will have

erfect Tenses The three perfect tenses in English are the three verb tenses which show action already completed. (The word perfect literally means "made complete" or "completely done.") They are formed by the appropriate tense of the verb to have plus the past participle of the verb. Present Perfect: I have seen it. (Present tense of to have plus participle. Action is completed with respect to the present.) Past Perfect: I had seen it. (Past tense of to have plus participle. Action is completed with respect to the past.) Future Perfect: I will have seen it. (Future tense of to have plus participle. Action is completed with respect to the future.)

Some authorities consider the passive voice of certain verbs that are always intransitive to be the perfect tense also. Example: They are gone. Example: He is risen. rogressive Tenses The progressive tenses are the six tenses in English which show continuous or repeated actions. Sometimes the past progressive is called the imperfect. The six progressive tenses correspond to the three basic and three perfect tenses. They are formed by the appropriate basic or perfect tense of the verb to be followed by the present participle. Present Progressive: I am coming. Past Progressive: I was coming. Future Progressive: I will be coming. Present Perfect Progressive: I have been coming. Past Perfect Progressive: I had been coming. Future Perfect Progressive: I will have been coming.

Complete Contents mphatic Tenses The two emphatic tenses receive their name because they are used for emphasis. More commonly, however, they are used with the negative not and with questions when the normal order is inverted and part of the verb comes before the subject. The present emphatic tense is formed by adding the basic present form of the verb to the present tense of the verb to do (do or does).

The past emphatic tense is formed by adding the basic present form of the verb to the past tense of the verb to do (did). Present emphatic: Does he run fast? He does run fast. He does not run slowly. Past emphatic: He did come to work today. Didn't he stay home? He did not stay home today.