Program : BCA

Semester – I
BCA 105 – COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Unit II
Topic: Tense

Faculty: Abhijeet Ingle

Asst. prof. Dept. of Humanities.
Tense
 Simple Present Tense
• We use the Present Simple to talk about things that are factual,
permanent, or routine.

• For example:
• London lies on the Thames. (factual)
• I live in Italy. (permanent)
• I go to work by car. (routine)
• When we talk about our routines, we can also add an adverb of
frequency to say how often we do these things:
• I always go to work by car.
• I never take the bus to work.
 Present Continuous Tense
• We use the Present Continuous to talk about things that are happening now, or around now. (“Around
now” can mean this hour, this week, this month, this year…) We think that these events are temporary,
rather than permanent.
• Subject + is/am/are + Present participle (-ing) form

• We tend to use the Present Continuous to talk about changes and trends.

• This week I’m taking the bus to work because my car is in the garage. (A temporary change.)
• The price of petrol is going up. (A trend)

• We can also use adverbial expressions of frequency to give more information.

• I’m currently taking the bus to work.

• The price of petrol is going up at the moment.
• I’m staying in a hotel this week.
 Present Perfect Tense
• 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.

• subject+ have/has + main verb (in past participle form) + object

• Examples:
• She has learned to speak English.
• I have seen that movie.
• They have bought a new car.
• There has been an accident.
 Present Perfect Continuous Tense
• The present perfect continuous tense (also known as the present perfect
progressive tense) shows that something started in the past and is continuing
at the present time. The present perfect continuous is formed using the
construction has/have been + the present participle (root + -ing).

• Subject + has/have + been + V1(+ing) + …

• Examples:
• I have been reading for two hours.
• Tara hasn't been feeling well for two weeks.
• He has been playing football for a long time.
• He has been living in Bangkok since he left school.
Forms of Verb
Forms of Verb
 Simple Past Tense
• The simple past tense is used to describe a completed activity that happened in the past.
In other words, it started in the past and ended in the past. For example:
• John baked a cake.
• They painted the fence.
• Did you watch the news last night?
• Didn’t they go to the party yesterday?
• She didn’t read the book.
• He drew beautiful pictures last week.
• I learnt Spanish last summer.
• Simple Past Tense indicates an action which is completed at a definite time in the past.
• POSITIVE FORM (+): Subject + V2 ( Second Form of Verb )
• NEGATIVE FORM (-): Subject + did not + V1 ( First Form of Verb )
• QUESTION FORM (?): Did + Subject + V1 ( First Form of Verb )
• NEGATIVE QUESTION FORM (?): Did not / Didn’t + Subject + V1 ( First Form of Verb )
• SHORT ANSWER FORMS ( + / – ) : YES / NO + Subject + did / did not (didn’t)
 Past Continuous Tense
• Past Continuous Tense indicates an action which started in the past and continued in a certain time
period. The point to be taken into consideration is that the action started in the past and the
continuity of the action was also in the past, so it does not continue at this moment.
• Examples:
• Were you watching television last night?
• They were studying math yesterday.
• I was washing the dishes when the phone rang.
• As she was reading the book, Alice came.

• FORMS FOR PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

• POSITIVE FORM (+) : Subject + BE ( was / were ) + Verb-ING
• NEGATIVE FORM (-) : Subject + BE ( was / were ) + NOT + Verb-ING
• QUESTION FORM (?) : BE ( was / were ) + Subject + Verb-ING
• NEGATIVE QUESTION FORM (?): BE ( was / were ) + NOT + Subject + Verb-ING
• SHORT ANSWER FORMS ( + / – ) :
• YES + Subject + BE ( was / were )
• NO + Subject + BE ( was / were ) + NOT
 Past Perfect Tense
• 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:
• When I return home, she had already left.
• I went there after I had completed the task.
• She hadn’t come late to the school before.
• My father and mother had been married for two years when I was born.
• Until Simon went to England, he had never spoken English.

• POSITIVE FORM (+) : Subject + HAD (auxilary verb- have ) + V3 ( third form of main verb
– past participle )
• NEGATIVE FORM (-) : Subject + HAD (auxilary verb- have ) + NOT + V3 ( third form of main
verb – past participle )QUESTION FORM (?) : HAD (auxilary verb- have ) + Subject + V3
( third form of main verb – past participle )
• NEGATIVE QUESTION FORM (?) : HAD (auxilary verb- have ) + NOT + Subject + V3 ( third
form of main verb – past participle )
 PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE
• Past Perfect Continuous Tense indicates a past action which started in the past and continued to
happen after another action and time in the past. Namely, Past Perfect Continuous Tense tell us
“how long the action had continued”. ” the duration of the action” is emphasized more in this
tense.
• POSITIVE FORM (+) : Subject + HAD BEEN + Ving
• NEGATIVE FORM (-) : Subject + HAD + NOT + BEEN ( HADN’T BEEN ) + Ving
• QUESTION FORM (?) : HAD+ Subject + BEEN + Ving
• NEGATIVE QUESTION FORM (?) : HAD + NOT + Subject + BEEN + Ving

• Examples:
• When her husband came home, the woman had been cleaning the house for hours.
• The ground was covered with snow. It had been snowing heavy for several hours.
• They had been being friend since childhood.
• I hadn’t been waiting for Sarah for 40 minutes before she called me.
• Thomas had been trying to repair the phone the whole day.
• We had been studying all day so we tired.
 Simple Future Tense
• The simple future tense is used to refer to actions or states that begin and end in the future.
These events have not happened yet, but will happen sometime in the future:
• I will meet her at the mall.
• The monkeys will eat any bananas that their handlers give them.
• Structure: S+ will/shall + [root form of verb]
• I will learn a new language.
• Difference between will and shall
• Use shall in the first person and will in the second and third persons for the simple future
tense:
• I shall sing this afternoon.
• You will succeed.
• He will stay at home.
• As a general rule, use 'will' for affirmative and negative sentences about the future. Use
'will' for requests too. If you want to make an offer or suggestion with I/we, use 'shall' in the
question form. For very formal statements, especially to describe obligations, use 'shall'.
 Future Continuous Tense
• The future continuous tense, sometimes also referred to as
the future progressive tense, is a verb tense that indicates
that something will occur in the future and continue for an
expected length of time. It is formed using the construction
will + be + the present participle (the root verb + -ing).
• Structure: S +will/shall + be + V1+ing
• I will be playing tennis at 10am tomorrow.
• What will you be doing at 10pm tonight?
• Take your umbrella. It will be raining when you return.
 Future Perfect Tense
• The future perfect is a verb tense used for actions that will be
completed before some other point in the future.
• Structure: S + Will/shall + have + V3 + object
• Examples
• I will have been here for six months on June 23rd.
• By the time you read this I will have left.
• You will have finished your report by this time next week.
• Won't they have arrived by 5:00?
• Will you have eaten when I pick you up?
 Future Perfect Continuous Tense
• The Future Perfect Continuous Tense is a verb tense that describes
actions that will continue up until a point in the future. The activity
will have begun sometime in the past, present, or in the future, and
is expected to continue in the future.
• Structure: S + will + have + been + V-ing (present participle) + object
• I will be tired when I get home because I will have been walking for
over an hour.
• I will have been travelling to New York for 2 years by the end of
October.
 Base Form
• In English grammar, the base form of a verb is its simplest
form. These exist without a special ending or suffix on their
own but can be changed and added onto to fit different uses
and tenses. A verb's base form is what appears in dictionary
entries.

• The base form is also known as the plain form, simple form, or
stem. Read about how base verbs are used and modified here.
• Example: work, play, sing, write.
Forms of Verb (Present, Past and Past Participle)
 Present Participle
• Present participle form of the verb is the ‘Ing’ form of
verb, formed by adding ‘ing’ after the base verb.
• Structure: base + ing

• I am working.
• Singing well is not easy.
• Having finished, he went home.
• You are being silly!
 Third-Person Singular Verb
• In English grammar, the third-person singular verb ending is the suffix -s or
-es that's conventionally added to the base form of a verb in the present
tense when it follows a singular subject in the third person (for example,
"She waits and watches").

• Structure: Base + s/es

• When the verb ends in -ch, -ss, -sh, -x or -zz, we add -es. When the verb
ends in a consonant + -y we change y to i and add -es
• He speaks three languages.
• She drinks coffee every morning.
• The baby cries all the time.
Helping Verbs