Simplifying Matters The Simple Tenses.docx

Simplifying Matters The Simple Tenses.docx

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SimplifyingMattersTheSimpleTenses

SimplifyingMatters:

TheSimpleTenses

Thethreesimpletensesarepresent,past,andfuture.Eachofthesimple

tenses（justtomakethingsevenmorefun）hastwoforms.Oneisthe

unadorned,no-frills,plaintense.Thisformdoesn¡¯thaveaspecialname;it

PartI:

GettingDowntoBasics:

ThePartsoftheSentence

30

isjustcalledpresent,past,orfuture.Itshowsactionsorstatesofbeingata

pointintime,butitdoesn¡¯talwayspindownaspecificmoment.Theother

formiscalledprogressive.Itshowsactionsorastateofbeinginprogress.

Presenttense

Presenttensetellsyouwhatisgoingonrightnow.Asmentionedintheprevious

section,thissimpletensehastwoforms¡ªoneiscalledpresent,andtheotheris

progressive.Thepresentformshowsactionorastateofbeingthatisoccurring

now,thatisgenerallytrue,orthatisalwayshappening.Thepresentprogressive

formissimilar,butitoftenimpliesaprocess.（Thedifferencebetweenthetwo

issubtle.Igointomoredetailsaboutusingtheseformsbelow.）Fornow,takea

lookatacoupleofsentencesintheno-frillspresenttense:

Reggierollshistonguearoundthepastry.（rollsisinpresenttense）

GeorgeplansnothingforNewYear¡¯sEvebecauseheneverhasadate.

（plans,hasareinpresenttense）

Nowherearetwosentencesinthepresentprogressiveform:

Alexeiisaxingtheproposaltocutdownthenationalforest.（isaxingisin

presentprogressiveform）

MichaelandLuluareskiingfartoofasttowardthatcliff.（areskiingisin

presentprogressiveform）

Pasttense

Pasttensetellsyouwhathappenedbeforethepresenttime.Thissimple

tensealsohastwoforms¡ªplainandchocolate-sprinkled.Sorry,Imean

plain,whichiscalledpast,andpastprogressive.Considerthesetwopast-

tensesentences:

WhentheelasticinMs.Belli¡¯sgirdlesnapped,weallwokeup.（snapped

andwokeareinpasttense）

Despitethestrongplasticribbon,thepackagebecameungluedand

spilledontotheconveyorbelt.（becameandspilledareinpasttense）

Herearetwomoreexamples,thistimeinthepastprogressiveform:

WhileBuzzwassleeping,hiscat,Catnip,wascompletelydestroyingthe

sofa.（wassleepingandwasdestroyingareintheprogressiveformofthe

pasttense）

Lola¡¯sfriendswerepassingtissuestoLuluatarateoffiveperminute.

（werepassingisintheprogressiveformofthepasttense）

Chapter3:

Relax!

UnderstandingVerbTense

31

Youcan¡¯tgowrongwiththepasttense,exceptfortheirregularverbs,whichI

addresslaterinthischapter.Butoneverycommonmistakeistomixpastand

presenttensesinthesamestory.Here¡¯sanexample:

SoIgototherestaurantlookingforCindybecauseIwanttotellher

aboutGrady¡¯sdatewithEleanor.IwalkinandIseeBradPitt!

SoIwentup

tohimandsaid,¡°Howarethekids?

¡±

Thespeakerstartedinpresenttense¡ªnoproblem.Eventhoughaneventis

clearlyover,presenttenseisokayifyouwanttomakeastorymoredramatic.

（Seethesidebar¡°Thehistoricalpresent,¡±laterinthischapter.）Butthelast

sentenceswitchesgears¡ªsuddenlywe¡¯reinpasttense.Problem!

Don¡¯t

changetensesinthemiddleofastory.Anddon¡¯tbothercelebritieseither.

Futuretense

Futuretensetalksaboutwhathasnothappenedyet.Thissimpletenseisthe

onlyonethatalwaysneedshelpingverbstoexpressmeaning,evenforthe

plain,no-frillsversion.

Helpingverbs（seeChapter2）suchaswill,shall,have,has,should,andso

forthchangethemeaningofthemainverb.

Futuretenses¡ªthiswillshockyou¡ªcomeintwoforms.I¡¯mnottalking

aboutalternateuniverseshere;thisbookisaboutgrammar,notsci-fiadven-

tures!

Oneformofthefuturetenseiscalledfuture,andtheotherisfuturepro-

gressive.Theunadornedformofthefuturetensegoeslikethis:

Nancywillpositionthewigintheexactcenterofherhead.（willposition

isinfuturetense）

LisaandIwillneverpart,thankstothatbottleofglue!

（willpartisin

futuretense）

Acoupleofexamplesofthefutureprogressive:

Duringthepost-electionperiod,Georgewillbeponderinghisoptions.

（willbeponderingisintheprogressiveformofthefuturetense）

Lolawillbesprinklingtheflowerswithfertilizerinavainattempttokeep

themfresh.（willbesprinklingisintheprogressiveformofthefuturetense）

Findtheverbsandsortthemintopresent,past,andfuturetenses.

A.Whenthetornadowhirlsoverhead,werunforthecameraandthe

phonenumberofthetelevisionstation.

B.ShallIcompareyoutoawinter¡¯sday?

PartI:

GettingDowntoBasics:

ThePartsoftheSentence

32

C.Whenyouwerethree,youblewoutallthecandlesonyourbirthday

cake.

Answers:

InsentenceA,thepresenttenseverbsarewhirlsandrun.Insen-

tenceB,thefuturetenseverbisshallcompare.InsentenceC,thepasttense

verbsarewereandblew.

Nowfindtheverbsandsortthemintopresentprogressive,pastprogressive,

andfutureprogressiveforms.

A.Exactly5,000yearsago,adinosaurwaslivinginthatmudpuddle.

B.ZeusandApolloareestablishingaunionofmythologicalcharacters.

C.ThepilotwillbejoiningusassoonastheaircraftclearstheAlps.

Answers:

InsentenceA,thepastprogressiveverbiswasliving.Insentence

B,thepresentprogressiveverbisareenrolling.InsentenceC,thefuturepro-

gressiveverbiswillbejoining.

UsingtheTensesCorrectly

What¡¯sthedifferencebetweeneachpairofsimpletenseforms?

Notawhole

lot.Peopleofteninterchangetheseformswithoutcreatinganyproblems.But

shadesofdifferenceinmeaningdoexist.

Presentandpresentprogressive

Thesingle-wordformofthepresenttensemaybeusedforthingsthatare

generallytrueatthepresenttimebutnotnecessarilyhappeningrightnow.

Forexample:

OllieattendswrestlingmatcheseverySunday.

IfyoucallOllieonSunday,you¡¯llgetthisannoyingmessageherecordedon

hisansweringmachinebecausehe¡¯satthearena（attendsisinpresenttense）.

YoumayalsogetthismessageonaThursday（oronanotherday）anditis

stillcorrect,eventhoughonThursdaysOlliestayshometoplaychess.Now

readthissentence:

Ollieisplayinghide-and-seekwithhisdogSpot.

Thissentencemeansthatrightnow（isplayingisintheprogressiveformof

thepresenttense）,asyouwriteorsaythissentence,Ollieisrunningaround

thelivingroomlookingforSpot,whoiseasytofindbecauseheranthrough

thattrayoffluorescentpaint.

Chapter3:

Relax!

UnderstandingVerbTense

33

Pastandpastprogressive

Thedifferencebetweentheplainpasttenseandthepastprogressivetense

isprettymuchthesameasinthepresenttense.Thesingle-wordformoften

showswhathappenedinthepastmoregenerally.Theprogressiveformmay

pinpointactionorastateofbeingataspecifictimeoroccurringinthepast

onaregularbasis.

Gulliverwenttothestoreandboughtclothesforallhislittlefriends.

ThissentencemeansthatatsomepointinthepastGulliverwhippedouthis

chargecardandfinishedoffhisChristmaslist（wentandboughtareinpast

tense）.

WhileGulliverwasshopping,hisfriendswereplanningtheirrevenge.

ThissentencemeansthatGullivershouldn¡¯thavebotheredbecauseatthe

exactmomenthewasspendinghisallowance,hisfriendsweredecidingwhat

timetopourinkintohislunchbox（wasshoppingandwereplanningareinthe

progressiveformofthepasttense）.

Gulliverwasshoppinguntilhewasdropping,despitehismother¡¯sstrict

creditlimit.

ThissentencereferstooneofGulliver¡¯sbadhabits,histendencytogoshop-

pingeverysparemoment（wasshoppingandwasdroppingareintheprogres-

siveformofthepasttense）.Theshoppingwasrepeatedonadailybasis,

overandoveragain.（Hence,Gulliver¡¯smomimposedthestrictcreditlimit.）

Futureandfutureprogressive

Youwon¡¯tfindmuchdifferencebetweenthesetwo.Theprogressivegives

youslightlymoreofasenseofbeinginthemiddleofthings.Forexample:

TheactorwillbeplayingHamletwithagreatdealofshouting.

Theactor¡¯sactionsinthesentenceabovemaybealittlemoreimmediate

than

TheactorwillplayHamletwithagreatdealofshouting.

Inthefirstexample,willbeplayingisintheprogressiveformofthefuture

tense.Inthesecondexample,willplayisinfuturetense.

PartI:

GettingDowntoBasics:

ThePartsoftheSentence

34

Thehistoricalpresent

Notsurprisingly,youusepresenttenseforInthefirstsentence,tellsanddeclaresarein

actionsthatarecurrentlyhappening.Butpresenttense,eventhoughthesentencecon-

（Surprise!

）youmayalsousepresenttensecernseventsthatoccurreddecadesago.Here

forsomeactionsthathappenedalongtimethehistoricalpresentmakesthehistorymore

agoandforsomeactionsthatneverhappeneddramatic.（Non-historiansoftentellastoryin

atall.Thehistoricalpresentisawaytowritepresenttensealso,justtomaketheaccount

abouthistoryorliterature:

morevivid.）Inthesecondsentence,facesand

representsareinpresenttense.Theideais

OnDecember7,1941,PresidentFranklin

thatforeachreaderwhoopensthebook,the

DelanoRoosevelttellsthenationaboutthe

storybeginsanew.Withthelogicthatwehave

attackonPearlHarbor.Thenationimmedi-

cometoknowandloveinEnglishgrammar,

atelydeclareswar.

theeventsarealwayshappening,eventhough

HarryPotterfacesthreetestswhenherep-HarryPotterisafictionalcharacterandthe

resentsHogwartsinthetournament.eventsneverhappened.

Understandingthedifferencebetween