No Place Like Home

By
Abubaker K. Mustafa
Master of Arts in Translation
 In today’s lecture, we are going to
give you a basic overview of the verb
tense system in English.
- There are 12 major verb tenses that English
learners should know.

- There are three main verb tenses in

English: present, past and future. The
present, past and future tenses are divided
into four aspects: the simple, progressive,
perfect and perfect progressive.

‫ ﻓﻲ اﻟﺷراﺋﺢ اﻻرﺑﻌﺔ اﻟﻘﺎدﻣﺔ رﻛزوا ﻋﺎﻟﺗﻐﯾﯾرات اﻟﺗﻲ‬:‫ﻣﻼﺣظﺔ‬

(drive) ‫ﺳﺗطرأ ﻋﻠﻰ اﻟﻔﻌل‬
 Simple Tenses
We’ll start with the simple tenses. These are probably the
first tenses you learned in English. Simple tenses usually refer
to a single action. In general, simple tenses express facts and
situations that existed in the past, exist in the present, or will
exist in the future.

• Simple present:
I drive home every day.
• Simple past:
I drove home yesterday.
• Simple future:
I will drive home later.
 Progressive (Continuous) Tenses
We use progressive tenses to talk about unfinished events.
Progressive tenses are also called continuous tenses.

Past progressive:
I was driving when you called.

Present progressive:
I am driving now.

Future progressive:
I will be driving when you call.
 Perfect Tenses
Now let’s look at the perfect tenses. Perfect tenses cause the
most confusion. To put it simply, they express the idea that one
event happens before another event.

Present perfect:
I have driven that road.

Past perfect:
I had already driven that road in the past.

Future perfect:
I will have driven 200 miles by tomorrow.
 Perfect Progressive Tenses
Generally, perfect progressive tenses express
duration, or how long? Perfect progressive tenses
usually include the adverbs for or since.

Present perfect progressive:

I have been driving since this morning.
Past perfect progressive:
I had been driving for three hours before I stopped to
get gas.
Future perfect progressive:
I will have been driving for five hours by the time I
arrive.
An illustrative table:
VERB TENSES past present future
Simple It snowed yesterday. It snows every winter. It is going to snow
Simple past verb Simple present verb tonight.
It will snow this winter.
Will / be going to +
simple present
Progressive It was snowing when I It is snowing. It will be snowing by the
drove to work. Am/is/are+-ing verb time I get home.
Was/were + -ing verb Will be + -ing verb
Perfect It had already snowed I have driven in snow It will have snowed 6
before I left. many times. inches by the end of the
Had + past participle Have/has + past day.
verb participle verb Will have + past
participle verb
Perfect It had been snowing for It has been snowing all It will have been snowing
progressive two days before it month long. for three days by the time
stopped. Has/have + -ing verb it stops.
Had been + -ing verb + + for/since Will have been + -ing
for/since verb + for/since
 Clue (signal) Words
When learning a language, we sometimes come
across the term signal word. Basically, it refers to
expressions that indicate the use of particular verb
tenses. The advantage for language learners and in this
case mainly for English learners is clear: If we want to
construct a sentence with one of those expressions, we
can mostly rely on the tense that goes with it and
conjugate the verb accordingly.

Careful! However, it is essential to know that signal

words are valid often or even very often but never in
every case.
‫اﻟﻛﻠﻣﺎت اﻟدﻻﻟﯾﺔ ﺑﻣﻌﻧﻰ اﻟﻛﻠﻣﺎت اﻟﺗﻲ ﺗدل ﻋﻠﻰ ﺻﯾﻐﺔ زﻣﻧﯾﺔ ﻣﻌﯾن او ﺗﺄﺗﻲ‬
‫ﻣﻊ ﺻﯾﻐﺔ زﻣﻧﯾﺔ ﻣﻌﯾﻧﺔ‬
Examples of Clue Words: (Present Tense)
Simple:
(regularly, always, usually, every year, every day,
normally, often, rarely etc.)
“Peter always plays tennis on Tuesdays.”
Continuous:
(currently, now, at the moment, this week, next
month etc.)
“I’m living at my friend’s house at the moment.”
Perfect:
(since, for, recently; since 7 o’clock, for five years etc.)
“Mary hasn’t seen her best friend for three years.”
Examples of Clue Words: (Past Tense)

Simple:
(yesterday, last year, two hours ago, last weekend,
in 2007 etc.)
“Francis moved to Italy in 2010.”
Perfect:
(just, never, how long, for, since, already etc.)
“We had already left when the band started to play.”
 Compound Words
Compound words are formed when two or more
words are joined together to create a new word that
has an entirely new meaning. Compound words can be
written in three ways:

- open compounds (spelled as two words, e.g., ice

cream).
- closed compounds (joined to form a single word,
e.g., lifestyle)
- hyphenated compounds (two words joined by a
hyphen, e.g., long-term).
 Consider the words “make up” and “makeup”.

Make up your mind fast.

My makeup was ruined by the rain!
I have a makeup exam tomorrow.

In the first sentence, make up is a verb. In the

second sentence, makeup is used as a noun. In
the third sentence, we see makeup as an
adjective describing “exam.”
 Social Expressions
We Use Certain Expressions in Different
Social Situations.
For example,
A: I’m sorry for being late.
B: Don’t worry, come and sit down.
In fact, there are thousands and thousands
of expressions that would help you learning
English softly without being confused. Please,
have a look on Page 15.
 - How are you?
Fine, Thanks.

- Excuse me!
Not at all (or Don’t mention it.)

- Have a good day!

Same to you.

Have a good day?

That’s very nice, thank you.
Not all that glitter is gold!
 Homework
1- Write 4 sentences for each tense (Present, Past, Future)
using the verb “eat”.

2- Write 3 groups of compound words (opened, closed and

hyphenated), each group is of 10 words with their
meanings.

3- What are these words? Write noun, verb, adjective,

adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction or interjection:
Bread, beautiful, on, came, in, hot, and, written, went,
letter, eat, cat, quickly, Wow and never.

4- Write 5 different social expressions.

‫ ﻗراءة اﻟﺳؤال ﺟﯾدا ً وﻣﻌرﻓﺔ اﻟﻣطﻠوب ﻗﺑل اﻹﺟﺎﺑﺔ‬:‫ﻣﻼﺣظﺔ‬
Thank you