ORDER YOUR PAPER

15% off today

from a verified trusted writer

total: $11.23
Writer’s Guide to Tense

The Writer's Guide to Tense, Pt. I

Tenses definitely might confuse anyone and you need to be prepared to use them correctly. Learn useful rules from The Writer's Guide to Tense, Pt. II that will help you to master your skills and expand your knowledge in English grammar.

What is tense?

On the surface, the idea of tense seems pretty simple: by changing the spelling of a verb or by adding helping verbs, you can describe the time period in which an event is taking place. When you dig a little deeper, though, tense becomes much more complicated. For instance, how do you indicate ongoing action that occurs in the past and the present? Or how do you describe several events that will happen at different times in the future? Every language answers these questions a little bit differently, so if you're going to be writing in English you need to know these specific rules.

Categories of time

In English, we generally recognize three categories of time: the present (what's happening right now), the past (what's happened before right now), and the future (what will happen after right now). Notice that these three definitions are all oriented around a central point. We pick a moment in time (the present) and define everything that happens as being either before or after this point. This is what's known as an absolute tense: we are always defining an event in relation to the moment in which we're talking about it.
It addition to defining an event relative to the present moment, we can also use tense to describe when events happen in relation to one another. For example, we can indicate that of two events that happened in the past, one occurred more recently than the other or we can show that of two events in the future, one will occur first. Keep in mind that when we do this, we're still defining all our events by their relationship to the present.

Simple versus continuous action

When we conjugate English verbs, we have to consider whether the action is a discrete event or whether it's an ongoing action. Simple tenses describe events that have a clear beginning and end; actions that occur over an undefined time period or are ongoing are described in the continuous tense (sometimes called the progressive tense). For example, in the sentence "I was running when my sister called me," was running is a continuous verb and called is a simple verb.

Conjugating verbs

When we use verbs, we have to indicate not only when events happened, but also when they occur in relation to other events and whether the action is simple or continuous. This is accomplished by conjugation: changing the spelling of verbs and adding helping verbs. (In English, only the past and present tense are indicated by spelling alone; all the other tenses require helping verbs).
Note: Most English verbs follow the same conjugation patterns, but there are also lots of verbs that have irregular spellings. There are too many to list here, so the rules below will just address regular verbs and a few special cases.

Terms

Infinitive

An unconjugated verb, that is a verb that doesn't indicate person or tense, is called an infinitive. In English, these have the form to + verb, for example, to jump, to think, or to drop.

Helping verb

Verbs that are used alongside the primary verb to give more information about when the action is taking place.

Past participle

The past participle is used to make perfect tenses. It's formed by adding -ed to then end of a verb (climbed, finished).

Present participle

The present participle is the form of verb used to indicate continuous action. It's formed by adding -ing to a verb (eating, sleeping).

Perfect tense.

Perfect tense describes actions that have been completed.

Verb tenses

Below are twelve of the most commonly used verb tenses. In the charts you'll see example of how to conjugate verbs for first (I, me, we), second (you), and third (he, they, it) person. There's also a timeline that will help you visualize the time frame that each tense describes.

Timeline key

Simple present

The simple present describes discrete actions taking place in the present. It's formed by dropping the to from the infinitive. In the 3rd person singular an s is added.
Personto jumpto thinkto drop
FirstI jumpI thinkI drop
Secondyou jumpyou thinkyou drop
Third (singular)he jumpshe thinkshe drops
Third (plural)they jumpthey thinkthey drop

Simple past

To indicate something happened in the past, the suffix -ed is added to the end of the verb. Many words have irregular spellings for the past tense, for example swim (past tense swam), drink (past tense drank), and fly (past tense flew). The past tense does not tell you anything about how far back into the past an event occurred, only that it happened before the present time.
Personto jumpto thinkto drop
FirstI jumpedI thoughtI dropped
Secondyou jumpedyou thoughtyou dropped
Third (singular)he jumpedhe thoughthe dropped
Third (plural)they jumpedthey thoughtthey dropped

Simple future

The future simple tense is formed replacing to in the infinitive with the helping verb will or by adding the phrase am/is/are going to the infinitive. Often they can be used interchangeably, but they do have slightly different meanings. Will is used to indicate that the subject plans to perform a voluntary action in the future or is making a promise, for example, "I will have dinner ready by seven." The phrase am/is/are going to is used to show that speaker has a plan: "I'm going to have a glass of wine when I get home." Again, this tense doesn't tell you anything about how far into the future something will happen, only that it will be after the present moment.
Personto jumpto thinkto drop
FirstI will jumpI will thinkI will drop
Secondyou will jumpyou will thinkyou will drop
Third (singular)he will jumphe will thinkhe will drop
Third (plural)they will jumpthey will thinkthey will drop

Our TOP writers

TOP 10
Writer 155864
ID 155864

Master's in Project Management, PMP, Six Sigma

Rating 97.2%
(97.2%)
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (8) about writer 155864

1259 written pages

315 orders

299 a+ papers

My Master’s degree and comprehensive writing experience allow me to complete any order fast and hit the nail on the head every time.

hire writer
TOP 10
Writer 121526
ID 121526

MBA, PMP, ITIL

Rating 99.3%
(99.3%)
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (7) about writer 121526

3560 written pages

509 orders

473 a+ papers

I am experienced writer with an MBA, PMP, ITIL, that consistently delivers unique, quality papers. I take pride in my experience and quickness.

hire writer
TOP 10
Writer 47072
ID 47072

MS in Human Resource Management

Rating 99.2%
(99.2%)
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (9) about writer 47072

19383 written pages

3877 orders

3528 a+ papers

I hold a MS degree in Human Resource and my goal is to help students with flawless, unique papers, delivered on time.

hire writer
TOP 10
Writer 106387
ID 106387

RN, MSN, PCN, PHN

Rating 99%
(99%)
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (6) about writer 106387

5609 written pages

561 orders

539 a+ papers

As Registered Nurse (RN, PCN), I can quickly deal with any medical paper. My expertise and writing skills are perfect for this job.

hire writer
TOP 10
Writer 128170
ID 128170

MPA, MHA

Rating 99.5%
(99.5%)
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (8) about writer 128170

3787 written pages

758 orders

690 a+ papers

I have MPA, MHA degrees but, most importantly, experience and skills to provide unique, well-written papers on time.

hire writer
TOP 10
Writer 99022
ID 99022

DNP, BA, APN, PMHNP-BC

Rating 97.1%
(97.1%)
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (9) about writer 99022

7168 written pages

897 orders

807 a+ papers

I can write about multiple areas and countless topics, as I have a DNP and BA degrees. High-quality writing is my second name.

hire writer
TOP 10
Writer 117750
ID 117750

PhD in American History

Rating 97.4%
(97.4%)
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (8) about writer 117750

18265 written pages

2610 orders

2349 a+ papers

A PhD in American history comes handy. Unique papers, any topics, swift delivery — helping with academic writing is my passion.

hire writer
TOP 10
Writer 99423
ID 99423

MA, PsyD, LMFT

Rating 98.5%
(98.5%)
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (7) about writer 99423

21748 written pages

2417 orders

2344 a+ papers

Incredibly fast PsyD writer. Efficient paper writing for college. Hundreds of different tasks finished. Satisfaction guaranteed.

hire writer
TOP 10
Writer 85466
ID 85466

MEd, NCC, LPC, LMFT

Rating 97.6%
(97.6%)
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (9) about writer 85466

6853 written pages

2287 orders

2173 a+ papers

Top-ranked writer with tons of experience. Ready to take on any task, and make it unique, as well as objectively good. Always ready!

hire writer
TOP 10
Writer 124685
ID 124685

MSW, LICSWA, DSW-C

Rating 98.8%
(98.8%)
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (8) about writer 124685

2522 written pages

316 orders

294 a+ papers

Experienced Social Work expert focused on good writing, total uniqueness, and customer satisfaction. My goal — to help YOU.

hire writer

Buy your papers from the best writing service

Have your tasks done by our professionals to get the best possible results.

total: $11.23
Confidentiality

NO Billing information is kept with us. You pay through secure and verified payment systems.

Quality

All papers we provide are of the highest quality with a well-researched material, proper format and citation style.

Communication

Our 24/7 Support team is available to assist you at any time. You also can communicate with your writer during the whole process.

Authorship

You are the single owner of the completed order. We DO NOT resell any papers written by our expert

Originality

All orders are done from scratch following your instructions. Also, papers are reviewed for plagiarism and grammar mistakes.

Samples

You can check the quality of our work by looking at various paper examples in the Samples section on our website.

Special price $11.23/page
Place an order
63,000
more than 63,000 times students trusted us to write their papers
9/10
9 out of 10 customers recommend us*
92%
92% of our customers have placed more than 7 orders
*data is based on 6,568 customers' feedback received from Jan 1, 2017 till Jan 1, 2018.
Special price $11.23/page
Place an order
Customer #5058

I don't really get the difference between a book report and a book review, and my professor is really stuck-up about that. It's like he thinks we all have time to go through hundreds of books, wasting our youth away by studying, lol. Anyway, y'all saved me, I got an A-. Good enough for me.

Customer #1905

I like your services and don't regret getting my papers done here. I don't need a lot of help but since I'm a working student I don't have enough time for all my papers. I always order in advance so the deadline extension was ok with me. Free revision option is great! I am always sure I would get what I wanted.

Estimated Deadline: Tuesday, Apr 09 4:43 PM in Your timezone
Total price: $11.23
Price starts from $11.23
Regular discounts and offers
Excellent results guaranteed
Professional 24/7 support

Free samples of our work

There are different types of essays: narrative, persuasive, compare\contrast, definition and many many others. They are written using a required citation style, where the most common are APA and MLA. We want to share some of the essays samples written on various topics using different citation styles.

services
Hey, you...Yes, you! Don’t you want to get your Discount?
binder1
binder2
Your discount will be
sent to the email!

I have read and agree to the Terms of Use, Money Back Guarantee, Privacy and Cookie Policy of BestCustomWriting.com

  • dmca_logo
  • safecharge
  • trustpilot

Use your opportunity to get a discount!

To get your special discount, write your email below

  • dmca_logo
  • safecharge
  • trustpilot

Best papers and best prices!

Want to get quality paper done on time cheaper?

  • dmca_logo
  • safecharge
  • trustpilot