The answer all depends upon whom you ask and what meaning you attach to the grammatical term tense. Most ESL sites set the number of English tenses at twelve. In the realm of linguistics, English has only two tenses: present and past because according to linguistics terminology, a tense is indicated by a distinctive verb form.
For what I do, such distinctions seem unnecessarily confusing. My focus is basic English usage. From my point of view, English has three main tenses: present, past, and future. Each of these main tenses has sub-tenses. Here are the twelve English tenses as conventionally taught:.
Simple Present: He sings. Present Perfect: He has sung. Present Continuous: He is singing. Present Perfect Continuous: He has been singing. Simple Past: He sang.
Past Perfect: He had sung. Past Continuous: He was singing. Past Perfect Continuous: He had been singing. Simple Future: He will sing. Future Continuous: He will be singing. Future Perfect: He will have sung. Future Perfect Continuous: He will have been singing. Best regards, Kind regards, Yours sincerely - difference between. Is English or German official language in Netherlands? How to calculate inverse currency exchange rate?
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Contact us. The past simple should be used to describe completed actions and events, including steps in the research process and historical background information. Background information about events that took place in the past should also be described in the past simple tense. The present perfect is used mainly to describe past research that took place over an unspecified time period. You can also use it to create a connection between the findings of past research and your own work.
When summarizing a whole body of research or describing the history of an ongoing debate, use the present perfect. Similarly, when mentioning research that took place over an unspecified time period in the past as opposed to a specific step or outcome of that research , use the present perfect instead of the past tense. When describing the outcomes of past research with verbs like fi nd , discover or demonstrate , you can use either the past simple or the present perfect.
The present perfect is a good choice to emphasize the continuing relevance of a piece of research and its consequences for your own work. It implies that the current research will build on, follow from, or respond to what previous researchers have done. Note, however, that the facts and generalizations that emerge from past research are reported in the present simple. The future simple is used for making predictions or stating intentions. You can use it in a research proposal to describe what you intend to do.
It is also sometimes used for making predictions and stating hypotheses. Take care, though, to avoid making statements about the future that imply a high level of certainty. Similarly, when discussing the future implications of your research, rather than making statements with will, try to use other verbs or modal verbs that imply possibility can , could , may , might.
The continuous aspect is not commonly used in academic writing. It tends to convey an informal tone, and in most cases, the present simple or present perfect is a better choice. However, in certain types of academic writing, such as literary and historical studies, the continuous aspect might be used in narrative descriptions or accounts of past events.
It is often useful for positioning events in relation to one another. Shane finished his master's degree in English literature in and has been working as a writing tutor and editor since He began proofreading and editing essays with Scribbr in early summer, Have a language expert improve your writing. Check your paper for plagiarism in 10 minutes. Do the check. Its Synonym Swap will find the best nouns, adjectives, and more to help say what you really mean, guiding you toward clearer, stronger, writing.
Feedback Dictionary. Word of the Day. Meanings Meanings. What Is A Verb Tense? What is a verb tense? Past tenses The past tenses use verbs to say that something happened in the past, meaning any time before this moment right now. There are four variations of past tenses : Simple past: describes events that began and ended in the past.
Past continuous: describes events that began in the past, continued for a length of time, and ended in the past. Past perfect: describes a past event that occurred before another past event.
Past perfect continuous: describes an event that began in the past, continued for a length of time, and was in progress when another past event happened. Simple past The simple past tense describes events that have already happened and are completely finished. Simple past is usually used to write about historical events, like so: Galileo observed the stars. Past continuous The past continuous tense describes an ongoing activity that occurred in the past. It is formed by combining the past tense verb to be which must be correctly conjugated to agree with the subject and the present participle of a verb ending in — ing : The planet was moving along an elliptical orbit.
Past perfect The perfect tenses involve more complex time relationships. The girl bought the telescope her teacher had recommended to her. Past perfect continuous The past perfect continuous tense describes an ongoing action that—like the past perfect—was performed in relation to another event that occurs closer to the present.
He had been studying for his astronomy final when the doorbell rang. Present tenses Generally speaking, we use the present tenses to say that an event is happening right now in the present time. Like the past tenses, there are four variations of present tenses : Simple present: Describes an event as happening in the present.
Present continuous: Describes an event as being in progress in the present and likely continuing into the future. Present perfect: Describes an event that occurred in the past but has some connection to the present. Present perfect continuous: Describes an event that began in the past but still continues to happen in the present.
Simple present The simple present tense describes events happening now. We often use the simple present tense to state facts: Cats eat mice and birds.
For example: I am tall. You are my best friend. She is my older sister.
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