TENSES AND CONDITIONALS

TENSES

Tense: The word ‘tense’ is basically a noun which means time. Broadly speaking, ‘Tense’ is a change in the form of a verb to indicate the time of action or the state of someone or something.

            Tenses are of three kinds – Present, Past and Future. Each of these is again subdivided into four sub-divisions. Hence altogether tenses are of twelve kinds. That means every action can be described in twelve different ways depending upon the time of its occurrence.

Aspect: Aspect refers to how the meaning of a verb is considered in relation to time, typically expressing whether an action happens regularly, is continuous or complete.

TABLE OF TENSES

PRESENT TENSE 1. SIMPLE PRESENT              [V1 (or) V1+s/es] Usage:  habitual actions, universal truths, proverbs etc. Keywords: everyday, always, usually, often, regularly, on Sunday, generally, never, rarely, seldom etc. Eg: a) I go to Delhi every year. b) He drinks milk every day. c) She goes to church on Sunday. d) The sun rises in the east.	PAST TENSE 1. SIMPLE PAST [V2] Usage: indicates an action completed in the past. Keywords: yesterday, last week/year, in 1990, ago etc. Eg: a) I went to Delhi last month. b) The train left the platform ten minutes ago.	FUTURE TENSE 1. SIMPLE FUTURE [shall/will + V1] Usage: indicates an action that is going to occur in the future. Keywords: tomorrow, next month, in 2020 etc. Eg: a) I will go to Delhi next month. b) She will go to church tomorrow.
2. PRESENT CONTINUOUS      [ am/is/are + ing ] Usage: indicates the action going on at the time of speaking Keywords: now, at present, at the moment, look, see, listen, don’t disturb, don’t make a noise etc. Eg: a) I am watching TV now. b) Look, the old man is crossing the road.	2.PAST CONTINUOUS [ was/were + ing] Usage: i) used when the exact time of a past action is mentioned. ii) If two past incidents occurred at the same time, then the longer duration action takes Past Continuous and the shorter duration action takes Simple Past. iii) If two past actions of equal duration occurred (began and stopped) at the same time, then both take Past Continuous. Keywords: when, while etc. Eg: a) I was watching TV at 8 O’clock last night. b) I was watching TV when she came to my house. c) When Rome was burning, Nero was fiddling.	2. FUTURE CONTINUOUS              [ shall/will + be + ing] Usage: i) used when the exact time of a future action is known. ii) If two future actions are likely to occur at the same time, then the shorter duration action takes Simple Present and the longer duration action takes Future Continuous. Keywords: when, while etc. Eg: a)I shall/will be watching TV at 8 O’ clock tomorrow morning. b) I will be watching TV when you come to my house.
3. PRESENT PERFECT                [ has/have + V3]  Usage: i) indicates an action that has completed just now. ii) used to indicate past. Keywords: just(now), recently, so far, (not) yet, already, how long, today, this morning/week etc. Eg: a) The train has arrived on the platform just now. b) He has come to Hyderabad recently.	3. PAST PERFECT [ had+ V3] Usage: i) It is used when two past incidents occurred one after/before the other. Note: ‘had’ is always used with the first occurred incident. Keywords: before, after, when, for etc. Eg: a) The train had left the platform before she reached the station. b) The train left the platform after she had reached the station. c) I thanked him for what he had done.	3. FUTURE PERFECT [ shall/will +have + V3] Usage: indicates the expected time of completion of an action in the future. Keywords: by+ future time. Eg: a) I will have reached Delhi by this time tomorrow. b) They will have completed their B.Tech by 2018.
4. PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS                            [ has/have + been + ing] Usage: indicates that the action which began in the past is still continuing. Keywords: for, since. Note: ‘for’ indicates period of time ( e.g.- for 2 years) ‘since’ indicates (starting) point of time [e.g.- since 2008] Eg: a) She has been suffering from fever since Monday. b) She has been suffering from fever for five days.	4. PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS          [had been +ing] Usage: indicates that an action which began in the past had been continuing for certain duration before another past incident took place. Note : If there are two past incidents + for/since in a sentence, the shorter duration action takes Simple Past and the longer duration action takes Past Perfect Continuous.  Keywords: for/since + past action(s) Eg: i) She had been learning JAVA for three months before she joined this college. ii) He said that he had been learning grammar for a year.(Indirect Speech)	4. FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS                                  [ shall/will + have been + ing] Usage: indicates how long an action will have been continuing at a point of time in the future. Keywords: by + future time +for/since Eg: a) I shall have been learning classical dance for two years by next month.

EXERCISE

1. The girl fell asleep while she_______________(watch) TV.

2. Ravi usually______________(sit) at the back of his class.

3. They________________(repair) the old bridge now.

4. The train _________________(leave) the platform an hour ago.

5. It _________________(rain) since 8 O’ clock in the morning.

6. When I met him last, he ____________(learn) French for six months.

7. The train __________________(leave) the platform before we arrived.

8. He _____________________(finish) the work before  we reached the garage.

9. English____________________(speak) all over the world.

10. She met with an accident while she __________________(cross) the road.

11. He _____________________ (read) the novel since 9 O’ clock.

12. I met Rahul yesterday but I______________(not, see) him today.

13. The telephone rang while I ________________(talk) to my friend.

14. When he _______________(teach), all the boys remained silent.

15. The dish ________________(taste) delicious.

16. She __________________(arrive) from Chennai just now.

17.She _______________(sleep) till 8 O’ clock in the morning.

18. Akbar______________(rule) India long ago.

19. Jenny ____________(wait) for me when I arrived.

20. When I reached the meeting hall, the President ________________(already start) his lecture.

21. He ________________(go)to office by bus.

22. It __________________(rain) when I met him.

23. The Joint Director _______________(work) here since 2001.

24. Leela ___________(read) a novel now.

25. He _______________(work) in this office for three years.

26. She ________________(own) a big house in Hyderabad.

27. He __________(return) from London last week.

28. Abhi__________(go) for a walk every morning.

29. Prahalada and Tobit ______________(arrive) ten minutes ago.

30. Salomi ___________(suffer) from fever for a week.

31. Harish _____________(write) with left hand.

32. I __________(receive) a letter from my brother  yesterday.

33. Arun __________(swim) in the pool for five hours.

34. I __________ Raju for a long time (see).

35. I _____________about him before I went to England (hear).

36. He _________________(play ) the whole day and now he is tired.

37. My sister never ______________(drink) tea.

38. I ___________ my work before you came (do).

39. Last year, Harsha ________________(learn) Spanish for three years.

40. I _____________ all the plays of Shakespeare (read).

41. The manager _________________(speak) to me before he left for England.

42. He felt that he ________________ by the shopkeeper(cheat)

QUESTIONS FROM JUNE 2014 PAPER

43. Raju ____________ to the library once in a week regularly. (go)

44. When we reached the stadium, the match ___________ already. ( start)

CONDITIONALS

            Conditionals are used to talk about a possible situation and it consequences. Conditionals have two parts – If Clause and Main Clause. Conditional expressions can also use linkers like ‘Only if’, ‘Unless’, ‘When’ etc. instead of ‘If’.

Conditionals are of four types –

1. ZERO CONDITIONAL  -  It is used for universal truths ,facts and instructions.

[If + Simple Present…………..Simple Present]

Eg: i) If you heat ice, it melts.

            (Simp.Pre)       (Simp. Pre)

2. OPEN CONDITION – It indicates  that something will happen if a certain condition is fulfilled.

[If + Simple Present……………..will/shall/can/may + Plain infinitive]

Eg: i) If you ask him, he will help you.

ii)  If she works hard, she will pass.

3. UNREAL CONDITION – It is also called Negation. It is opposed to reality i.e. the condition in the If Clause is unlikely to happen or imaginary. It is not true past.

[If + Simple Past ……………would/could/should/might + Plain infinitive.]

Eg: i) If I spoke English well, my job would be a lot easier.

ii) If you asked him, he would help you.

iii) If I were the Education Minister, I would abolish examinations.

4. UNFULFILLED CONDITION – It refers to the past. It indicates that something did not happen because a certain condition was not fulfilled.

[If  + Past Perfect ………..would/could/should/might + have + Past Participle(V3)]

Eg: i) If you had asked him,  he would have helped you.

ii) If she had worked hard, she would have passed the examination.

EXERCISE

1. If he runs fast, he _______________(catch) the train.

2. If it ___________(rain), our programme will be cancelled.

3. They will come if you ___________(invite) them.

4. If he had played sensibly, we _________(win) the match.

5. I shall inform you when my sister_________(come) here.

6. If I sell this car, I __________ a Santro (buy).

7. If he asked me, I _____________(help) him.

8. If wishes __________(be) horses, beggars would ride.

9. I shall invite you when the dinner _________(be) ready.

10. If they ______________(start) early, they would have caught the train.