Present Tense – Examples
                                                                                           Simple Present Tense
 

Rules & Examples

1To express a habitual action
 He drinks tea every morning
 My watch keeps good time
 I get up every day at five O’clock
2To express general truths
 The Sun rises in the east
 Honey is sweet
 Forture favours the brave
3In exclamatory sentence beginning with here and there to express what is actually taking place in the present
 Here comes the bus !
 There he goes !
4To express a future event that is part of a fixed time table or fixed programme
 The next flight is at 7.00 tomorrow morning.
 The match starts at 9 o’clock.
 The train leaves at 5.20
 When does the coffee house reopen?
5To introduce quotations
 Keats says, ‘A thing of beauty is a joy for ever’.
6Instead of the Simple Future Tense, in clauses of time and conditions; as,
 I shall wait till you finish your lunch.
 If it rains we shall get wet.
7As in broadcast commentaries on sprting events, the simple present tense is used, instead of the Present Continous, to describe activities in progress where there is a stress on the succession of happenings rather than on the duration.
8The Simple Present is used, instead of the Present Continous, with the type of verbs as given below.
 a) Verbs of perception – see, hear, smell, notice, recognize.
 b) Verbs of appearing – appear, look, seem.
 c) Verbs of emotion – want, wish, desire, feel, like, love, hate, hope, refuse, prefer.
 d) Verbs of thinking – think, suppose, believe, agree, consider, trust, remember, forget, know, understant, imagine mean, mind.
 e) Verbs of measurement – cost, measure, weigh
 f) have (possess), own, possess, belong to, contain, consists of, be (except when used in passive)
 These grapes are tasting sour.  These grapes taste sour.
 I am thinking you are wrong.  I think you are wrong.
 She is seeming sad.  She seems sad.
 He is having a cellular phone.  He has a cellular phone.
 Exemptions: the verbs listed above can be used in continous tenses with a change of meaning:
  She is tasting the soup to see if it needs more salt. (taste = test of flavour)
  I am thinking of going to Malasia. (think of = consider the idea of)
  They are having lunch. (have = eat)
                                                                                             Present Continuous Tense
1For an action going on at the time of speaking; 
 She is singing (now)
 The boys are playing hockey.
2For a temporary action which may not be actually happening at the time of speaking.
 I am reading ‘David Coppefield’ (but I am not reading at this moment).
3For an action that has already been arranged to take place in the near future.
 I am going to the cinema tonight.
 My uncle is arriving tomorrow.
4It has been pointed out before that the Simple present is used for a habitual action. However, when the reference is to a particularly obstinate habit  –  something which persists, for example, inspite of advice or warning – we use the present continuous with adverb like always, continuously, constantly.
 My dog is very silly; he is always running out into the road.
                                                                                               Present Perfect Tense 
1To indicate completed activities in the immediate past (with just)
 He has just gone out.
 It has just struct then.
2To express past actions whose time is not given and not definite
 Have you read ‘Gulliver’s Travells’?
 I have never known him to be angry.
 Mr. Hari has been to Japan.
3To describe past events when we think more of their effect in the present than of the action itself.
 Gopi has eaten all the biscuits.
 I have cut my finger (and it is bleeding now)
 I have finished my work (=now I am free)
4To denote an action beginning at some time in the past and continuing upto the present moment.
 I have known him for a long time.
 He has been ill since last week.
 We have lived here for last ten years
 We haven’t seen Padma for several months.
5The following adverbs or adverb phrases can also be used with present perfect tense
 never, ever in questionsonly.
 so far, till now, yet (in negatives and questions)
 already, today, this week, this month etc.
 Note: Present perfect tense is never used with adverbs of past time. 
 We would not say, for example, ‘He has gone to Kolkata yesdery’. In such cases the simple
 present should be used ‘He went to Kolkata yesterday’
                                                                                           Present Perfect Continuous Tense
1It is used for an action which began at some time in the past and still continuing.
 He has been sleeping for five hours (and is still sleeping)
 They have been building the brige for several months.
 They have been playing since four o’clock.
2This tense is also sometimes used for an action already finished. In such cases the continuity of
 the activity is emphasized as an explannation of something.
 Why are your clothes so wet? – I have been watering the garden.