Mastering English grammar and structure hinges significantly on your understanding of tenses. Fluent use of tenses is closely intertwined with language proficiency, making a deep dive into tenses an indispensable part of language learning.

Tenses essentially serve as temporal markers, categorizing actions within three primary time frames: the present, the past, and the future. These time frames can be further classified into four fundamental types:

1. Simple Tense:
2. Continuous Tense:
3. Perfect Tense:
4. Perfect Continuous Tense:

In essence, English tenses serve as the backbone of the language’s grammar and structure. Proficiency in tenses is a key indicator of language competence. Your fluency is intricately linked to your comprehensive knowledge of English tenses. Thus, it’s crucial to invest time in studying and mastering them.

Just like driving a vehicle with four distinct gears, you navigate the intricacies of the English language by using these various forms of expression represented by tenses.

Active tenses:

Active Tenses: These tenses center around actions performed by the subject. For instance: “The patient consumed medication.” Here, “patient” is the subject who carries out the action.

Learning tenses is like mastering the gears of a vehicle – it helps you navigate the nuances of expressing actions in time effectively.

By learning and applying English tenses, you equip yourself to express actions and events accurately and fluently in your language journey.

To gain a thorough understanding of active tenses, you can watch a video that demonstrates these concepts. (explained in Malayalam language. English explanation can be found in the same playlist on our Youtube channel)

Active tenses: the formula.

Active-tenses-by-LTC-wth-Malayalam-meaning

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Let’s break it down: Active tenses.

Simple Tense: This tense is used to express general facts or habits. For example, “He goes to church” (simple present) implies that the subject has a habit of going to church. It doesn’t indicate that he is currently on his way to church. Simple tenses can be employed in various contexts to maintain a professional tone. The same applies to simple past and future tenses.

Formulas:

• Simple Present: Subject + do/does + Base form of the verb
• Simple Past: Subject + did + Base form of the verb
• Simple Future: Subject + will + Base form of the verb

Continuous Tense: This tense is primarily used to describe actions that are presently in progress, such as present continuous. For example, “He is going to church” means he is on his way to church at the moment. It’s important to use the continuous tenses only when you want to emphasize an ongoing action. The same rule applies to past and future continuous tenses.

Formulas:

• Present Continuous: Subject + am/is/are + ing
• Past Continuous: Subject + was/were + ing
• Future Continuous: Subject + will + be + ing

Perfect Tense: Unlike other tenses, perfect tenses refer to a past action that has relevance in the present, past, and future. This tense can be divided into “present perfect” (immediate past), “past perfect” (earlier in the past), and “future perfect” (action to be completed at a specific future time). The perfect tenses provide an accurate timeframe without additional information.

Examples:

• Present Perfect: “He has come” (indicates he arrived just now)
• Simple Past: “He came” (doesn’t specify when he arrived)
• Past Perfect: “He had come” (confirms he arrived earlier in the past)
• Future Perfect: “He will have come” (action will be completed at a future time)

Formulas:

• Present Perfect: Subject + have/has + Past participle
• Past Perfect: Subject + had + Past participle
• Future Perfect: Subject + will have + Past participle (no “has” in the future)
  

Delving deeper into the English language, let’s explore the intriguing formation of a common question: “Have you had your food?” This question’s structure is indeed captivating.

• In English, “have” can function both as a helping verb and a main verb simultaneously, much like “do” in phrases like “How do you do?” In this example, the first “do” is a helping verb, while the second “do” is a main (action) verb.
• Likewise, “have” can be used interchangeably with other verbs like eat, drink, suffer, possess, and more. So, “Have food” essentially means “eat food,” and “Had food” translates to “ate food,” forming the simple past.
• To further illustrate, let’s consider verb conjugations:
• Eat – Ate – Eaten
• Have – Had – Had
• This parallel structure allows us to replace “eaten” with “had.” The result is that “I have eaten” is equivalent to “I have had,” and “I had eaten” corresponds to “I had had.”
• What’s even more fascinating is the availability of contractions for perfect tense formations, adding convenience to the language:
• I have eaten = I have had = I’ve had
• I had eaten = I had had = I’d had

So, you can say, “I’d had breakfast.” Cool, isn’t it? Language intricacies can be truly intriguing!

Perfect Continuous Tense: The perfect continuous tense is a complex structure that allows you to express the duration of an action. For example, “I have been working at IBM” implies that you started working there in the past, continued, and are still employed there. “I had been working at IBM” suggests you were working there in the past but are no longer. “I will have been working at IBM” (future perfect continuous) means you will start working there at a specific point in the future.

Contractions for perfect continuous formations are also available:
I’ve been working,
I’d been working,
I’ll’ve been working.

Formulas:

• Present Perfect Continuous: Subject + have/has + been + ing
• Past Perfect Continuous: Subject + had + been + ing
• Future Perfect Continuous: Subject + will + have + been + ing

Passive tenses: What actually is “passive”?

Passive tenses represent a sentence structure where the subject is not the one performing the action; instead, the action is carried out on the subject.

For instance:

“Patient is admitted to the hospital.”

In this sentence, the patient, the subject, is not taking the action. Rather, someone else is admitting the patient to the hospital.

Usage: Passive tense is an invaluable tool, particularly in formal writing and conversations. It also serves as an excellent means of conveying messages with politeness and tact.

For example:

“Please note that smoking is not allowed here.”

This passive construction elegantly communicates the same message as “don’t smoke.”

Want to delve deeper into passive tense formation? Watch our video for a more comprehensive understanding.

Passive tenses: the forumla

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Unlock the full potential of passive tenses for effective communication.

Passive Tense: In passive tenses, the subject becomes the receiver of the action, shifting the focus to the action itself rather than the doer. Passive constructions are commonly used in English for various reasons, such as when the doer of the action is unknown, when the doer is less important than the action itself, or for a more formal tone.

We must use the past participle form of the verb in the entire passive formations. Remember, we used past participle only with perfect tense in Active tense.

Simple tense passive:

Present Simple Passive: Subject + am/is/are + past participle.

Example: “The patient is admitted.”

Past Simple Passive: Subject + was/were + past participle.

Example: “The patient was admitted.”

Future Simple Passive: Subject + will be + past participle.

Example: “The patient will be admitted.”

As passive tense uses past participle, time is very clear even in simple tense. Therefore, it has the taste of perfect tense all the time.

Continuous tense passive: being makes it continuous form.

Present continuous tense passive: Subject + am/is/are + being+ past participle.

Example: “The patient is being admitted.”

Past continuous tense passive: Subject + was/were + being+ past participle.

Example: “The patient was being admitted.”

Future continuous tense passive: This formation does not exist.

Perfect tense passive: Instead of has or have, we use has/have been here. It totally flips the meaning.

Present perfect Passive: Subject + have/has +been + past participle.

Example: “The patient has been admitted.”: Admitted in the present (immediate past)

Past perfect Passive: Subject + had +been + past participle.

Example: “The patient had been admitted.”: Admitted in the past (distant past)

Future perfect Passive: Subject + will+ have +been + past participle.

Example: “The patient will have been admitted.”: Will be admitted at a future time point

Perfect continuous form passive: This formation does not exist.

Informal Passive!

While the former is true, we can also formulate passive using “get” and make informal passive. How interesting?

It uses a kind of active formula, but it results in passive meaning. Instead of patient is admitted, we can say, patient gets admitted. Past: Patient got admitted. In day-to-day life, we use this without realizing that it is informal passive. Let’s delve into the formulas.

Simple tense passive(informal):

Present Simple Passive: Subject + do/does+ get + past participle.

Example: “The patient gets admitted.”

Past Simple Passive: Subject + did + get + past participle.

Example: “The patient got admitted.”

Future Simple Passive: Subject + will +get + past participle.

Example: “The patient will get admitted.”

Continuous tense passive (informal): We use “getting” instead of “being”.

Present continuous tense passive: Subject + am/is/are + getting+ past participle.

Example: “The patient is getting admitted.”

Past continuous tense passive: Subject + was/were + getting+ past participle.

Example: “The patient was getting admitted.”

Future continuous tense passive: Subject + will be + getting+ past participle.

Example: “The patient will be getting admitted.”

Perfect tense passive: We use the 3^rd form of get (got) instead of “been” here.

Present perfect Passive: Subject + have/has +got + past participle.

Example: “The patient has got admitted.”: Admitted in the present (immediate past)

Past perfect Passive: Subject + had +got + past participle.

Example: “The patient had got admitted.”: Admitted in the past (distant past)

Future perfect Passive: Subject + will+ have +got + past participle.

Example: “The patient will have got admitted.”: Will be admitted at a future time point

Perfect continuous tense passive:

Present continuous tense passive: Subject + have/has + been+ getting+ past participle.

Example: “The patient has been getting admitted.”

Past continuous tense passive: Subject + had + been+ getting+ past participle.

Example: “The patient had been getting admitted.”

Future continuous tense passive: Subject + will+ have + been+ getting+ past participle.

Example: “The patient will have been getting admitted.”

Hurrah, we’ve covered the entire tense realm. Have you any more doubts? Feel free to type them down in the comments section. Thank you!