求tenses

1.Simple Present Tense:expresses an unchanging, repeated, or reoccurring action or situation that exists only now. It can also represent a widespread truth

Example Meaning

a. The mountains are tall and white. Unchanging action
b. Every year, the school council elects new members. Recurring action
c. Pb is the chemical symbol for lead. Widespread truth

2.Simple Past tense :expresses an action or situation that was started and finished in the past. Most past tense verbs end in -ed. The irregular verbs have special past tense forms which must be memorized.


Example: Form:

a. W.W.II ended in 1945. Regular -ed past
b. Ernest Hemmingway wrote "The Old Man and the Sea." Irregular form


3.Future tense: expresses an action or situation that will occur in the future. This tense is formed by using will/shall with the simple form of the verb.


The speaker of the House will finish her term in May of 1998.
The future tense can also be expressed by using am, is, or are with going to.


The surgeon is going to perform the first bypass in Minnesota.
We can also use the present tense form with an adverb or adverbial phrase to show future time.


The president speaks tomorrow. (Tomorrow is a future time adverb.)


4. Present Progressive Tense: describes an ongoing action that is happening at the same time the statement is written. This tense is formed by using am/is/are with the verb form ending in -ing.


5. Past progressive tense: describes a past action which was happening when another action occurred. This tense is formed by using was/were with the verb form ending in -ing.


e.g The explorer was explaining the lastest discovery in Egypt when protests began on the streets.

6.Future Progressive Tense: describes an ongoing or continuous action that will take place in the future. This tense is formed by using will be or shall be with the verb form ending in -ing.


e.gDr. Jones will be presenting ongoing research on sexist language next week.

2007-11-19 23:07:36 補充：
....其實仲有ga不如你去呢個website睇牙..http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/tenses.html

英文有12種tenses

1)Simple Present
2)Simple Past
3)Simple Future

4)Present continuous
5)Past continuous
6)Future continuous

7)Present perfect
8)Past perfect
9)Future perfect

10)Present perfect continuous
11)Past perfect continuous
12)Future perfect continuous

present tense, present continues tense, past tense, past conitinues tense, past participle and future tense. I just know them only.

tense Germanic: English:
to go Romance: Spanish:
ir Romance: Italian:
andare Celtic : Irish:
téigh Germanic: Swedish:
att gå Finno-ugric: Finnish:
mennä Slavic: Bulgarian:
отивам/отида[1] notes
Present simple I go. (Yo) voy. (Io) vado. Téim. Jag går. (Minä) menen. Аз отивам. In most languages this is used for most present indicative uses. In English, it's used mainly to express habit or ability ("I play the guitar").
Present continuous I am going. (Yo) estoy yendo. (Io) sto andando. Tá mé ag dul. Jag är gående[2], jag går. (Minä) olen menossa. Аз отивам This form is prevalent in English to express current action, but is absent or rarer in other Indo-European languages, which prefer the simple present tense. Continuous is more an aspect than a tense and is included here only because of its prevalence in English to substitute for the Simple Present.
Present perfect I have gone. (Yo) he ido. (Io) sono andato. Jag har gått. (Minä) olen mennyt. Аз съм отишъл. Common past compound tense. In some languages indicates recent past, in others indicates an unknown past time. No equivalent in Irish.
Preterite I went. (Yo) fui. (Io) andai. Chuaigh mé. Jag gick. (Minä) menin. Аз отидох. In English (unlike in some languages with aorist tenses), this implies that the action took place in the past and that it is not taking place now.
Imperfect I used to go. (Yo) iba. (Io) andavo. Théinn.
Past continuous I was going. (Yo) estaba yendo. (Io) stavo andando. Bhí mé ag dul. Jag var gående[2], jag gick. (Minä) olin menossa. Аз отивах.
Pluperfect (past perfect) I had gone. (Yo) había ido. (Io) ero andato. Jag hade gått. (Minä) olin mennyt. Аз бях отишъл. This expresses that an action was completed before some other event.
Future I will go. (Yo) iré. (Io) andró. Rachaidh mé. Jag ska gå. (Minä) menen. Аз ще отида. This can be used to express intention, prediction, and other senses. In Finnish and Japanese there is no future tense; when speaking of the future, the present tense is used; a telic object may implicitly communicate the time.
Future perfect