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Tenses - Why Are These Important

In: English and Literature

Submitted By glenne78
Words 261
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Verb tenses tell readers when events or actions occured in time—in the past, present, or future. Your verb choices can also indicate aspect, which expresses the completeness or effects of an action.
TENSES - Why are these important
• Writers use the present tense to describe events that are happening at the moment.
• Writers use the past tense to describe events that have already happened.
• Writers use the future tense to describe events that will happen.
________________________________________
Simple tenses; perfect tenses; progressive tenses; perfect progressive tenses
Simple Tenses
The simple tenses are used to show permanent characteristics of people and events or what happens regularly, habitually or in a single completed action.
Perfect Tenses
Sometimes you need to give just a little bit more information about an action or state...and that is where the perfect tenses come in.
The perfect tenses are used when an action or situation in the present is linked to a moment in the past. It is often used to show things that have happened up to now but aren't finished yet or to emphasize that something happened but is not true anymore. When they end determines which of them you use.
Perfect tenses are never used when we say when something happened i.e. yesterday, last year etc. but can be used when discussing the duration of something i.e. often, for, always, since etc..
Perfect Progressive Tense
The perfect progressive tense describes actions that repeated over a period of time in the past, are continuing in the present, and/or will continue in the future.

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