Grammatical+tense

=Grammatical tense=

Definition
toc A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when a situation happens. There are three basic tenses in English: past, present, future. Each has a simple form, a perfect form, indicating completed actions, a progressive form, indicating ongoing action, and perfect progressive forms.

Etymology
//Tense// comes from Old French //tens// "time", from Latin //tempus// "time", a translation of Greek //chrónos// "time"."Tense" as an adjective is unrelated, since it comes from the perfect passive participle of the Latin verb //tendere// "stretch".(2)

Forms and graphic comparism:

 * <  ||< Simple forms  ||< Progressive forms  ||< Perfect forms  ||< Perfect progressive forms  ||
 * < Past ||< made  ||< Was/were making  ||< Had made  ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 宋体; font-size: 21px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Had been making  ||
 * < <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 宋体; font-size: 21px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Present ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 宋体; font-size: 21px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Make/makes  ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 宋体; font-size: 21px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Am/is/are making  ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 宋体; font-size: 21px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Have/has made  ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 宋体; font-size: 21px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Have/has been making  ||
 * < <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 宋体; font-size: 21px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">future ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 宋体; font-size: 21px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Will make  ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 宋体; font-size: 21px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Will be making  ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 宋体; font-size: 21px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Will have make  ||< <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 宋体; font-size: 21px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Will have been making  ||
 * [[image:tenses_en.png]](6)

Addtional information:
Special attention should be paid to the irregular simple past and past participle verb forms. Those need to be remember one by one with very little rule of the change of verb form.

The comparison between Chinese and English
In the Chinese language, there is no verb tense, so for Chinese English learners, it is very likely that they would forget the correct use of tense, especially in spoken English. Instead, verb tense is indicated by adverbs or or particles like “已经”which means already, before or after the main verb. As a result, Chinese students have difficulty with verb tenses. An error example would be: I go shopping yesterday. ( I went shopping yesterday.)

Verb tenses in academic writing (3)
Use the **simple present** to describe a general truth, an action that is happening now, or an action that occurs on a regular basis: This study //addresses// the shortage of research about gifted students. Sknner's theories //remain// valid today. Use the **simple past tense** to describe an action that took place at a specific point in the past: The instructor //discovered// that her students retained information better when they were given more autonomy. Zimbardo //researched// many aspects of social psychology. Use the **future tense** to describe an action that will take place at a particular point in the future: Tomorrow, I //will distribute// the surveys to my students. Many students //will attend// the residency next June. Use the **present perfect tense** to describe an action that began in the past and continues in the present: Researchers //have shown// that the corpus callosum is more developed in cats than in dogs.(Notice that the implication here is that the research showed this in the past and continues to show this presently. Psychoneuroimmunologists //have demonstrated// the influence of stress on chronic illnesses. Use **the past perfect tense** to describe an action that began in the past and continued for some time but is no longer happening. Before Freud's discovery, psychologists //had believed// that hysteris was caused by a wandering womb. since she //had developed// her critical thinking skills, Mary performed well on the test.
 * ===Simple present===
 * ===Simple past===
 * ===Simple future===
 * ===Present perfect tense===
 * ===Past perfect tense===

Future perfect tense
Use the **future perfect tense** to describe an action that is presently taking place and will continue taking place untill some point in the future. I //will have revised// this thesis 50 times by the end of the semester. I //will have been// at Walden University for 2 years by the time I complete the thesis.

Reference
1 Fabricius-Hansen, "Tense", in the //Encyclopedia of language and Linguistics//, 2nd ed. 2006 2 tempus. Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short. A Latin Dictionary on Perseus Project. 3[| http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/tenses.html] 4 [] 5[] 6 []

Other links
1 Some relections on English textbook input for Hong Kong students. [] 2 Irregular simple past and past participle verb forms. []