linguistics; and, collaborating even more with other disciplines, lexicography, the making of dictionaries, orthography, the study of spelling, and paleography, the
study of ancient texts.
Tense and time. In grammar a tense is a disticntive form or phrase of a
verb. The traditional names of the tenses are mainly words indicating time past, present, and future. It is therefore assume that the function of tense is to show
time and and that the time shown is that suggested by the ame of the tense. Both assumptions are only partly true. The function of a verb is primarily to show time.
In English most sentences require a finite verb, and the verb necessarily occurs in a tense form. But the indication of time in the sentence may be supplied by an
adver, or the adverb may modify the time suggested by the verb.
The tense names in English should be considered, then, as convenient but
rather arbitrary terms used to identify verb forms and phrases, the actual function of the verb in each sentence being finally determined by other elements in the
construction. It is customary to distinguish sixteen tenses in English. The sixteen tenses are:
1. Present Tense Subject
Predicate Complement
That lady works
at the office. You and I
enjoy enjoy the party.
2. Present Continuous Tense Subject
Predicate Complement
That people are listening to the radio.
The deligent student is writing
the exercises.
3. Present Perfect Tense
Subject Predicate
Coentmplem That boy’s mother
has gone to the market.
All the students
have done
the tasks.
4. Future Tense
Subject Predicate
Complement We
will study Overseas.
The new students
are going to the new books.
5. Future Continuous Tense
Subject Predicate
Complement The president, Obama
will be giving his speech by 10 a.m. next Monday.
That boy’s mother will be preparing
dinner this evening
6. Future Perfect Tense Subject
Predicate Complement
We will have finished
the works tomorrow afternoon. They
will have arrived here tomorrow morning.
7. Past Tense Subject
Predicate Complement
The English teacher Taught
us English last week. The postmen
Delivered
the letters.
8. Past Continuous Tense Subject
Predicate Complement
The young docter Wasexamining his patient.
Those mechanics Wasfixing the broken cars.
9. Past Perfect Tense Subject
Predicate Complement
The journalist had told
us the news. That father
had sent the children to the school.
10. Past Future Perfect Tense Subject
Predicate Complement
Budi and Amin would have sent
the new book to the teacher. The dog
would have run after the cat.
11. Past Future Perfect Continuous Tense Subject
Predicate Complement
The new patient would have been being operated
by the experienced docters. The proposal
would have been being sent by the secretary.
12. Future Perfect Continuous Tense Subject
Predicate Complement
The pharmacists will have been working
in the laboratory by nine o’clock tomorrow morning.
The senior teachers
will have been teaching
the students in that classroom this afternoon.
13. Present Perfect Continuous Tense Subject
