Slide 1: Reviewing Verb Tenses MC MASTER UNIVERSITY ROGER VALEZUELA Slide 2: Verb Tense Review The Importance of Time Verb tense expresses the time of an event or action. Time and how it is expressed in writing is very important to English readers. The English language has twelve different tenses. In this lesson, we will review the meaning of each verb tense. Slide 3: The Simple Present Tense Expresses a habit or often repeated action. Adverbs of frequency such as, often, seldom, sometimes, never, etc. are used with this tense. She goes to work everyday.
They always eat lunch together. Slide 4: The Simple Present Tense This tense also expresses general truths or facts that are timeless. Snow falls in the December in Minnesota.
Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. Slide 5: The Simple Past We use the simple past to indicate exactly when an action or event took place in the past. I visited my sister yesterday.
We went out to dinner last night. Slide 6: The Simple Past The simple past is used to describe actions and/or events that are now completed and no longer true in the present. I attended MJC in 1998. (I no longer attend MJC.)
I saw a movie every weekend when I was a teenager. (I don’t see movies very much anymore.) Slide 7: The Present Perfect The present perfect is used to talk about an event that began in the past and continues up to the present. He has lived in Modesto for two years.
(He began living in Modesto two years ago and he still lives there.) Slide 8: The Present Perfect The present perfect is also used to talk about an event that was completed in the past, but the specific time of the event is not important. I have seen that movie before.
He has already visited Vietnam.
(Specific dates and times are not mentioned.) Slide 9: The Future Will and be + going + to are often used to describe future actions. Thomas will graduate in June.
Maria is going to go to Mexico next week. Slide 10: The Future The simple present and present progressive are also used to express future time. These are often used used in connection with schedules. She is meeting a new client at eleven o’clock.
The train leaves at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow.