Mastering English Tenses

Hi everyone

@otaku_professor and @Wipad prompted me to write this blog about the use of English verb. Many Vietnamese seem to have problems with the tenses. Vietnamese tenses have only three forms: past (đã), present and future (sẽ). But the tenses in English are dependent on the moment of speaking, the time and the progress of activities.

English is not English. British English, US English, Indian English, Australian English, New Zealand English, etc. But the use of tenses are the same. There are some deviations of words, but they won’t effect the tenses. For example, the past form of to show:

  • British English: shown, realised, etc.
  • US English: showed, realized, etc.

Simple Present Tense expresses the perceptions, feelings, states, repetitions, facts, short future. All of this can extend beyond the moment of speaking. Example:

  • moment of speaking: I hear a plane
  • perception: you look worried
  • feeling: I like this picture
  • state: I am hungry
  • repetition: He goes to the movie every Saturday
  • fact: the sun rises in the east

Or will take place in the near future often with adverbs (e.g. tomorrow, yesterday, etc.). Example:

  • short future: when you leave? I leave tomorrow

Present Progressive Tense expresses activities that started in the past and are in actual progress at the moment of speaking. Example:

  • What are you doing? I’m watching TV
  • I’m fixing a flat tire of my bicycle

Or will take place in the near future often with adverbs (e.g. tomorrow, next week, etc.) that indicate the future. Example:

  • I’m leaving tomorrow (or I go tomorrow)
  • Where are we going tonight?

Simple Past Tense expresses activities that existed or occurred in the past. Activities that lasted for a while or were repeated in the past. Example:

  • existed: They left an hour ago
  • lasted for a while: I ate Bún Bò yesterday
  • repeated: Jennifer played tennis every saturday (she doesn’t play anymore)

Past Progressive Tense expresses activities which were in progress at the time of another activity in the past. Example:

  • I was feeling better when the doctor arrived
  • He was having a good time when I saw him at the party

Or activities that last for a while in the past. Example:

  • I was working last night
  • He was sitting in the lobby an hour ago

(to be continued)

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There are 12 tenses in english (or more). But in my opinion, 7 of them are the most important to communicate.
The simple present tense
The continuous present tense
The simple past tense
The continuous past tense
The perfect present tense
The simple future tense
The near future tense

actually, ppl only use simple tenses (present, past and future) and present continuous for daily communication. I barely see ppl use the others.

anyway, the post is titled mastering, but the content looks exactly copied from a random grammar book. you need to try better.

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@anonymous273
In every society there are mentally underdeveloped people who spend their entire lives nitpicking every banal thing, even a piece of ■■■■. These people are wimps because they never dare to show their true identity but cowardly prefer to remain anonymous in their lives. Name is Omen: @anonymous273.

An English teacher might be petty by pointing out an unnecessary comma in your otherwise perfect 20-page paper. People who are petty are bothered by smaller problems - or they are simply looking for something to criticize.

Source nitpick

well, then what is your real identity? hidden behind a named joe persona doesn’t make you a real person xD

and instead of improving your post, you just decided to attack me personally.

here is a way to deeply understand a simpe tense

to understand a tense, you must understand what is a tense. a tense is simply a way to express time. meaning when you use a tense, say present tense, other people will know what you are referencing to the current moment; or a passed moment with past tense.

fun fact: there are tenseless languages such as Vietnamese and Chinese. the word “tense” comes from the word “tens” from old french, which means “times”

now let move to the main topic, the simple tense.
so why do we call that tense “simple”. because it only expresses only 1 action at a specific time. with the help of tense, you can see the context of time is automatically added to your speak without expressing it explicitly.

present simple tense -> express an action at the current moment
example: I go to school -> at the current moment, I go to school

past simple tense -> express an action in the specific moment that passed away
example: I went to school -> somewhen in the past, I did go to school but not now.

future simple tense -> express an action in a moment that is behind the current moment
example: I’ll go to school -> somewhen in the future, I will go to school but not now

simple, right? :wink:


hence, if you want to express an action at a specific time. just use simple tense.

a fact is basically a proven expression -> that’s why people use simple tense to express it.
if a fact is still valid -> you might want to use present simple
example: the sun rises in the east. this fact is still valid, maybe in the future say an apocalypse will make the earth stop rotate, at that time -> people will say, the sun raise in the east. the sun doesn’t rise anymore.

if a fact is outdated or proven to be wrong -> you want to use past simple
example: Napoleon was Short. truth is Napoleon height is 170cm, taller than average French men at that time.

if you believe a fact will be true in the future -> use future simple
example: with the effect of global warming, average temperature of the earth will be 40C.

You can test your understanding with states, feelings, repetitive actions. Can you explain why do they use simple tense? :smiley:

xD what are you trying to say mr “not so anonymous” joe? I keep seeing your name popping up on the replying. I hope it will be a good reply about grammars instead of personal attack :rofl:

LOL…

All can be brave, including idiots. @otaku_professor is one of the latter :joy:. He just shows off his own grammar and vocabulary shortage :joy:

You called @otaku_professor as an idiot and that is very impersonally, huh ? (HERE)
It seems to me that there are so many nitpickers in the DNH who don’t like to feel inferior and are terribly jealous of others because others can do something but they can’t. Day Nhau Hoc is an empty word when no one dares to teach (day) each other (nhau) and learn (hoc) from each other just because of such nitpickers.
Now I now understand why this English folder is full of posts in Vietnamese. Btw, I don’t intend to give lecture here in English Language.

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Nice, it’s a personal attack reply.

lmao, your title makes it looks like a promise to delivery a deep content about english grammar. reality, your content is so freaking poor. I have my right to complain about it because that is a fake advertisement and warn other users for your poor delivered content. if you called me a nitpicker, then you must be a pretentious scammer.

oh one more thing :wink: it seems that you don’t know about the word “feedback” eh? you speak english doesn’t mean you are smarter than people here, scumbag!

oh yes please, that would be my pleasure. I bet you don’t know anything about linguistics and english language to perform that kind of “mastering” posts :rofl:

@anonymous273 @Joe Is there any point when you guys bitch each other? There is no need for arguments, it will going to nowhere.

just gave him a feedback and he couldn’t stand it :rofl: tried to show him how to understand things deeply but his arrogant just hit before I could finish my long ass reply. and I am no god to have mercy with someone who calls me pos for no reason :rofl:

@otaku_professor
That’s right. God Himself is powerless against bigotry. I’m the same as you: the best way is to ignore such bigots.

before I ended this bullshit conversation with you can I ask you something?

I do remember erika announced your death while ago on kipalog.com. it seems you come back from the death eh?

SO if you was announced dead, how can you still be here alive and so pathetic seeking for attention? and why daynhauhoc? maybe there is no other website can hold your bullshit? anyway, I didn’t know that germany has that kind of magic to revive people from their own grave. :rofl:

and final note, if you think that people here forgot about your pathetic past and try sneak your way here again, think again my dear JOEY. because I do remember you, filthy scumbag.

oh hold on a sec, can I ask for the magic that revived you? maybe I can revive @drgnz, @noname00 and ban your toxic ass off this forum, AGAIN.

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