ঢাকা, বাংলাদেশ   বৃহস্পতিবার ২৮ মার্চ ২০২৪, ১৪ চৈত্র ১৪৩০

Syeda Tahamina Akhter

Tense ॥ ইংরেজির স্কুল

প্রকাশিত: ১২:২১, ৫ ফেব্রুয়ারি ২০২০

Tense ॥ ইংরেজির স্কুল

B.A (Hons) In English Literature  M.A In English Literature  e-mail: [email protected] Tense of a sentence gives you an idea of the time when the incident mentioned in a statement takes place. At the same time, it is that critical factor that can most commonly leads people to mistakes while framing a sentence or while identifying the time of events. With your knowledge of tenses strong, fluent English and flawless grammar isn’t too far away from you. Here, in this article, all the various types of tenses are explained, along with their structure and examples, to help you get a much clearer picture of this important part of speech; it would also provide you the confidence to pick the right type of tense. Though it might seem complicated when you try to glance through the write-up, tenses aren’t that difficult to understand; spend some time on each tense mentioned and see yourself framing better sentences than before. Read the following section carefully. The examples mentioned below can guide you through for sure. Tenses In English **Past Tense 1. Simple Past Tense:- Simple past tense is used to narrate an action of the past. The verb in the past tense ends with an ‘-ed’ and hence, there are seven ways of marking the irregular verbs in the past tense. The most common being the change of the vowel as in ‘drink’ - ‘drank’. Construction Subject + verb + Object Examples: Katie worked in that office for almost four years. He passed away in 1999. We went for the movie yesterday. Three years ago, I studied at the Canada University. 2. Past Continuous Tense:- This from of tense indicates activities that have already happened in the past and have been completed before the time of mention. These sentences are formed with the help of an auxiliary verb and giving the main verb an ‘ing’ ending. Structure Subject + was/were + Verb in its -ing form + Object Examples: He was washing the dishes, while she was cooking dinner. I was working at 11 p.m yesterday. We were playing football when it started to rain. She was reading a thriller novel when I called her. What were you doing when Sam arrived? I was walking down the street yesterday when the police van was patrolling the city. 3. Past Perfect Tense:- This tense refers to a non-continuous action that was already completed in the past. Such sentences are formed by using the Simple Past form of the auxiliary verb ‘to have’, followed by the past participle form of the verb. Structure Subject + had + past participle form of verb + Object Example: I had never seen such a beautiful before. She understood the movie only because she had read the book. Clara had never been to a club before last night. We didn’t get a room in the hotel because we had not booked in advance. 4. Past Perfect Continuous Tense:- A continuous action that was completed sometime in the past falls under Past Perfect Continuous tense. Such sentences are framed by using the modal, ‘had’ + ‘been’ + the present participle of the verb (-ing). Structure: Subject + had + been + Verb (ing) + object Example: I had been playing the guitar all morning. I had been sleeping all the way from the beginning of the class. He had been trying to call her. Until this year, Neha had been going to a village school. The baby had been crying out loud for minutes when her mother fed her.
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