Tenses
The Present
Simple Tense
He or
Ali
She or
Jane + V(s) + ……
It or The cat
|
Example:
A House Officer becomes a Registrar.
They
We
You + V + ……
I
Kim and Joseph
|
Example:
Nurses look after
patients in hospitals.
This tense is used to express:
1- general habits
and regular, frequent or repeated actions. Examples:
The nurse always takesblood pressure at 12 o’clock in the night.
She goes to
university every day.
2- general
statements and facts that are always true. Examples:
The sun risesfrom the east.
Water boilsat 100 ?C.
Mary singswell.
3- description of
methods or processes. Example:
In order to make cake, I takean amount of flour and put it in a mixing bowl. Then I addsome butter, a little salt, egg and mix them… etc.
In the negative and interrogative doand does are added. Examples:
They do not do minor operations.
Do you come from England?
Sometimes, the following adverbs are
usually used with this tense:
usually, often ((غالباً? كثيراً, frequently (غالبا), generally, always,occasionallyاحيانا) ),sometimes, never, hardly,seldom (نادراً أو قليلا ما), and rarely نادراً )), normally (عادة).
Every morning, every day, every week,
every year, every winter…
Once a day, twice a week, three times
a month, several times a month…
I often visit the patients .
She always sings well.
The Past Simple
Tense
This tense is used to describe past
actions or states. Examples:
The nurse took the
temperature.
He told her.
In English there are two types of
verbs:
a- Regular verbs:
these verbs are made past by the addition of the suffix –ed or –d.
Examples: walk / walked;
play / played
b. Irregular verbs: these types of verbs are not made past by the
addition of the suffix –ed or –d. Therefore, these verbs should be memorized.
Examples:
go / went ; think / thought; cut / cut
The following adverbs or
adverbials, such as yesterday, ago (منذ), last week, last
Sunday, last night, last month, last year, .. in the past, once, in 1999 are usually used with this tense.
The doctor prescribedmedicines yesterday.
She gave him a present last
Friday.
Did is used to make questions and
negatives in the past.
Tom did not teach her.
Did Ahmed study hard yesterday?
The verbs was and wereare used to form questions and negatives.
A Practice Nurse wasn’tan assistant GP.
You weren’t in the office.
The Present Continuous Tense
Verbs in the
present continuous tense consist of:
is
S + are
+ v(ing) (-ing form of the
verb) +...
am
|
He
She +
is + v(ing) +…..
It
|
The Healthcare Assistant is helpingGeorge to feed himself.
They
We + are + v(ing) +….
You
Ali and Jacob
|
I’m writing a letter.
They are taking respiration
rates.
This tense is used to describe an
action that is occurring at the time of speaking.
Examples:
I am sitting near the
door.
We are going to
London.
In the negative we put notafter am, is, and are.
Examples:
You aren’t workinghard.
I’m not playing music.
4- The
following adverbials and adverbs are usually used with this tense:
Now, at
the moment, at present, today.
The Nursing Auxiliary is changingincontinence pads now.
5- Some verbs
occur mostly in the present simple tense instead of the present continuous. We
can group these words according to their meaning:
a- Verbs of sensation:
see, hear,taste, smell
I see her.
b- Verbs that indicate mental states:
know, understand,believe, suppose, think (that), feel(that), consider (that), remember, forget,notice, recognize, agree, refuse,forgive, hope, intend, wish,mean, want, like, love,hate, mind, and care.
We love you.
c- Verbs that
indicate states or qualities such as size, ownership,structure, consist of, include, contain,belong to, own, have (=possess), require,
and need.
He needs special care.
The
Past Continuous Tense
was
S + +v(ing) + ....
were
|
I was playing handball.
They were playingtennis.
We use the
past continuous to say that somebody was in the middle of doing something at a
certain time. The action or situation had already started before this time but
had not finished.
I started doing I was doing I finished doing
past past now
The verbs of
sensation, verbs that indicate mental states and verbs that indicate states or
qualities are not used with this tense.
He loved the
Psychiatric Nurse. (not ‘he was loving the
Psychiatric Nurse’)
We tasted the soup.
(not ‘were tasting’)
Mohammed ownedthis land. (not ‘was owning’)
The
Present Perfect Tense
The present perfect tense consists of:
S + has
+ p.p. (Past participle of the verb) + …..
have
|
He or
Josh
She or Linda +
has + p.p. + …..
It or
The dog
|
They
We
You + have + p.p. +
…..
I
David and John
|
Examples:
The Medical Director has asked everyone to read
the guidelines.
They have embroidered the carpet.
The present perfect is used:
1- to express a period of time that continues up to the
present. “Since” and “for” are usually used with this form.
I’ve visited China twice for the last
two weeks.
She has not seen a good film since last
month. Past Present
2- to describe an action that finished in the past without
mentioning an adverb of the past.
The train has arrived.
3- to describe an action that has just finished. The adverbs
“just (منذ لحظات), already (الآن), and yet (لحد الآن)”
are usually used with this form.
The rain has just stopped.
We use this tense with this morning / today / this
week / this term / this is the first time / it’s the first
time / it’s the second time / till now/ to this day/ never/ever/ lately/ recently/ recent etc.
Examples:
Tom has lost his passport again. It’s
the second time he has lost it.
I’ve smoked ten cigarettes today.
Has it stop raining yet?
Iraq has exported a lot of oil in recentyears.
My younger brother has neverseen an elephant.
I have not met him to this day.
Our neighbour has bought a new car recently.
In the negative we put not after have or has.
Example:
She has not gone to
school.
In question we put have or has at the beginning
of the sentence.
Example:
Has she attended here?
The Past Perfect Tense
The past perfect tense consists of:
S + had + p.p. (past
participle of the verb) + ….
|
Sarah had gone home.
In speech, the contracted forms (I’d,he’d, she’d, it’d, they’d,we’d, and you’d) are common than full forms.
This tense is used to describe a
situation which occurred before the past time. In other words, when two
actions happen in the past, the past perfect is used for the first action and
the past tense for the second.
When Paul arrived at the party, Sarahhad already gone home.
“Before” and “after” are used with
this tense.
After I had put out the light, I went to bed.
Before he arrived at the airport, the
plane had already taken off (أقلعت).
S + has +
been + (Present participle of the verb) v(ing) + …..
have
|
The
Present Perfect Continuous Tense
It has been raining.
This tense is used to:
1- describe an activity that has
recently stopped or just stopped. There is connection with now:
Paul is very tired. He’s been
working very hard. (he’s tired now)
2- show that an action began in the
past and is still going on at present. “Since” or “for” is
usually used with this tense.
Where have you been? I’ve been
looking for you for half an hour.
3- describe actions repeated over a
period of time.
Every morning they meet in the same
café (المقهى).
They’ve been going there for years.
The Past Perfect Continuous Tense
S + had + been + present
participle of the verb v(ing) + ….
|
I was
very tired when I arrived home. I’d been working hard all day.
You can say that something had been happening for a period of time
before something else happened.
Our game
of tennis was interrupted. We’d been playing for about half an hour when it started to
rain very heavily.
Ken gave
up smoking two years ago. He’d been smoking for 30 years.
The Future
The future can be expressed in different ways:
1-
S + will + base form of
the verb +….
|
The first one
consists of the following:
Examples:
Ann will give the
medicine to the patient.
I shall travel to Paris next week.
This form is used to
express future activities or states when time is the important thing.
2- Going to
S + aux + going to + base
form of the verb + ….
|
This form is probably the
most common form in conversation. It is used when you have decided to do
something, and have made plans to do it.
Examples:
I am not going to gainsay(ينكر)
the truth.
Peter is going to studygeometry.
They are going to attendthe meeting.
3- Present
Continuous Tense:
This tense is used for
future events resulting from a present arrangement.
Examples:
We are inviting several
people to the party.
They are hunting for
supper.
4- The following
adverbs and adverbials are usually used with this tense:
Tomorrow, next week, next
month, next year, in the future, in a
minute, in ten days’ time…
Examples:
Dave will fish tomorrow.
Moses is flying to California next
week.
5- This tense is used to
describe that something is going to occur in the future or somebody arranges do
something in the future.