Present tense

Level: intermediate

There are two tenses in English: past and present.

The present tense is used to talk about the present and to talk about the future.

There are four present tense forms:

Present simple	I work
Present continuous	I am working
Present perfect	I have worked
Present perfect continuous	I have been working

We can use all these forms:

to talk about the present:

London is the capital of Britain.
He works at McDonald’s.
He is working at McDonald's.
He has worked there for three months now.
He has been working there for three months now.

to talk about the future:

The next train leaves this evening at 17.00.
I'll phone you when I get home.
He is meeting Peter in town this afternoon.
I'll come home as soon as I have finished work.
You will be tired out after you have been working all night.

Present tense 1: MultipleChoice_MTYyMzQ=
Present tense 2: GapFillTyping_MTYyMzU=

Level: advanced

We can use present forms to talk about the past:

when we are telling a story:

Well, it's a lovely day and I'm just walking down the street when I see this funny guy walking towards me. Obviously he's been drinking, because he's moving from side to side …

when we are summarising something we have read, heard or seen:

I love Ian Rankin's novels. He writes about this detective called Rebus. Rebus lives in Edinburgh and he's a brilliant detective, but he's always getting into trouble. In one book, he gets suspended and they tell him to stop working on this case. But he takes no notice …

Present tense 3: MultipleChoice_MTYyMzY=
Present tense 4: GapFillTyping_MTYyMzk=

Average

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Hello, Sir I have doubts in the following sentences: 1) "He prevented me to go there". Why is this sentence wrong? And why do we write it as "He prevented me from going there" and when can we know where to use "preposition + verb1" or "preposition + verb1 + ing", just like in the above sentences? 2) "Everyone knows Mr Gates". Why it's passive form written as "Mr Gates is known to everyone". Why not "Mr Gates is known by Everyone" ? 3) Are all these sentences right? i) I sent messages. ii) Messages are sent by me. iii) Messages have been sent by me.

Hello SahilK,

1) As far as I know, there is no good reason for this -- I'm afraid it's just the way these words are used. There are many, many patterns like this in English, and you just have to learn them.

2) You could also use the form you wrote, though it's true that the first one is probably more common.

3) Yes, they are -- good work!

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, Sir, I was watching a video where this guy said, "There is only three ways to start a speech". I mean shouldn't there be "are" in place of "is". Like " There are three ways...". Thank you in advance

Hello SahilK,

The correct form here is 'are' and not 'is'. I can't comment on the video you watched, of course, but people often make little mistakes when speaking, even in their own native language.

Best wishes,

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, I have a question about this example sentence "I’ll come home as soon as I have finished work." What is the difference between this sentence and " I’ll come home as soon as I finish work." Are they both grammatically correct? Please let me know. Thank you, Felix

Hello Felix,

In this context there is no difference. The present perfect emphasises that the earlier action is complete before the second action. Sometimes there is a potential difference in meaning. For example:

I'll leave when I see Paul.

I'll leave when I have seen Paul.

The first sentence could mean that I want to avoid Paul and will leave as soon as I spot him, or it could mean that I want to talk to Paul and will only leave once we have spoken. The second sentence means that I will leave after meeting Paul - I want to see (meet) him before I leave.

Best wishes,

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, Sir I have got these sentences. "I learnt all the concepts and so did my friend" and "I did learn all the concepts and so did my friend". My question is whether first or second or both are right?

Hello SahilK,

The first sentence is correct. We use 'so did' (or 'so does', 'so will' etc) to avoid repeating the verb in both halves:

I learnt all the concepts and so did my friend is much more elegant than I learnt all the concepts and my friend learnt all the concepts.

Best wishes,

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you so much for the prompt reply.