Present simple

Hello Prakash,

'Will' is a modal verb in English, not a part of a tense. In strictly grammatical terms, English has only two tenses (past and present); future is expressed through other means, including the use of past and present tenses, modal verbs and lexical expressions.

'Have to' is an unusual form. Like 'ought to' it functions as a modal verb in terms of meaning but it does not have all the characteristics of a modal verb:

Modal verb characteristics:

• They are always used as an auxiliary followed by a verb in its base form.
• We never find two modals together.
• They are always the first verb in the verb phrase.
• There is no third-person inflection.
• They have no -ing form or infinitive form.
• Negatives are formed with 'not' and without the auxiliary 'do'.
• Questions are formed by simple inversion rather than the use of any auxiliary verb.

As you can see, 'have to' does not have all of these characteristics and so it is sometimes called a semi-modal verb or a periphrastic modal verb.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello PepeYang,

The word 'permanent' here does not mean for ever without the possibility of change. Rather, it means that the action is not one which anticipates an end. In other words, it may not go on for ever but the speaker does not have any plan to end it at the moment.

It can be helpful to contrast this use of the present simple with the present progressive:

1) Mike works at a hotel.

2) Mike is working at a hotel.

In sentence 1 working at the hotel is Mike's job. He may change it in the future but he sees it (or the speaker sees it) as a normal, permanent post.

In sentence 2 working at the hotel is just a temporary situation. How long it continues is not stated but from the speaker's point of view it is a temporary post and we can expect Mike to move on at some point.

The difference is often psychological rather than factual. For example, imagine a person who moved to London twenty years ago. They might say either of these:

1) I live in London.

2) I'm living in London.

Sentence 1 tells us that the speaker sees London as their home: they consider themselves to be a Londoner.

Sentence 2 tells us that the speaker still sees London as somewhere that they will eventually leave. Their home is elsewhere (another city or country) and even after twenty years they do not see themselves as being a Londoner.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello zamrasahamed,

In general, we use present simple for present but less momentary actions or state and present continuous for things that are currently happening. But there are exceptions and this also depends on your definition of the concept 'currently happening'.

If you have any specific questions about specific sentences, please let us know and we'll be happy to explain them.

Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team

Hello Lander,

When the statement being quoted is still true at the time of quoting we often do not backshift. For example:

"I love you," she said.

She said she loved me. [She loved me when she said it; maybe she still loves me now and maybe not]

She said she loves me. [She loved me when she said it and she still loves me now]

In your first and third examples, I would say that the situations are still true: it is still important for parents to be consistent and the text is still not written up to the required standard.

Backshifting from past simple to past perfect is actually not all that common. Generally we prefer to just leave the verb in the past tense unless we want to emphasise that there was a change. In your second example, 'had claimed' would suggest to me that later the claim was withdrawn. In your final example 'had said' would suggest to me that something changed later - he withdrew his thanks, for example. Obviously it's difficult to be sure without seeing the sentences in context.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello midohada,

In this case, 'finished' is an adjective and 'are you' is the verb 'be' in interrogative (question) form. In informal English, it means the same exact thing as 'Have you finished?'

Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team

Hello Prakash,

You're right that the verb 'be' is an exception to the normal rule. This is quite common in languages, in fact, and linguists believe it is because 'be' is such a common word that we learn it before we have internalised the grammatical system. In other words, we learn to use 'be' before we know any grammar patterns and it simply has its own very simple system (just add 'not').

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello Khangvo2812,

You can use the past simple or present simple here. The past simple means 'He said hello to you when I spoke' while the present simple can be understood as 'He says hello to you through me right now.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello HLH,

I'm afraid I don't understand what your question is. Could you please use inverted commas (') around the language that you're asking about? I think that would help me understand.

All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team

Hello HLH,

The near future is not a fixed time which we can describe in this way. It is a question of how the speaker sees the action or situation. If the speaker sees the situation as permanent or unlikely to change for what they consider a long time then the present simple will be used. If the speaker sees it as temporary then the present continuous will be used. Sometimes a temporary situation can last year if in the speaker's mind it is going to change at some point. It's not a question of how long but rather how the speaker sees things.

I can say 'I study physics' even though I know the course only lasts four years because I don't anticipate it stopping. I can say 'I'm living in London' even if I think I'll be in London for a decade because I don't see it as my home but rather a place I'm in for a certain time. It's a question of perspective and it's subjective.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hi Prakash,

Yes, it is grammatically fine, including in commands (imperatives). As you suspected, these sentences sound a bit unusual because of the double "do", but they are grammatical.

I should mention that "do" as a main verb requires an object or a complement, so the first set of sentences should be something like:

• I do do (well).
• He does do (a good job).
• Do do (that).

I hope that helps.

Jonathan

LearnEnglish team

Hi Prakash,

Sure, I'll try to help.

It is a bus - in this sentence, the speaker/writer is identifying something ("It"). "It" is a dummy subject.

There is a bus - "There" is an adverb, introducing the subject of the sentence "a bus". The normal word order of the sentence is inverted.

There goes the bus - "There" is an adverb of place. It indicates a particular place or space (while in the previous sentence, in the most common use of "There is", "There" indicates the existence of something, with a weaker meaning of pointing to a particular place or space). The normal word order is inverted too. The subject is "the bus".

I hope that helps.

Jonathan

LearnEnglish team

Hi chonburi,

Grammatically, there's no problem with using present continuous to explain what you are doing in that moment (I'm cutting here ... I'm looping it ...). The present continuous focuses on what's happening at a particular moment.

But since you probably have many steps to make the final product, it would be unusual to use the present continuous to focus on every single step. It's more usual to use the present simple to describe a sequence of actions like this. But, while mainly using the present simple, you can also use present continuous at particular times to emphasise important moments or actions.

Does that make sense?

Jonathan

LearnEnglish team

Hello CarolinaRuiz,

My sense is that we typically use the present continuous to describe an image, unless we're using link or stative verbs.

Imagine an image of a family having a picnic on the grass in a park. We'd typically say things like 'The mother is giving the children some fruit', 'The father is arranging the blanket', 'The girl is drinking some water' to describe actions -- note all the present continuous forms here. But we do also use the present simple quite a bit, e.g. 'The boy looks hungry', 'The father is happy', 'The girl wants to play football', etc. These are all stative or link verbs.

But of course if we're talking about an image of a picnic we were at some time in the past, we'd probably use a range of past tense forms.

In a speaking exam where we're asked to speculate what will happen next in an image, we of course would use appropriate forms there as well.

Hope this answers your question. If not, please let us know.

All the best,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team

Hello howtosay_,

1. The present simple is fine here. The exams are a scheduled event and the present simple is appropriate for this. You could use other forms. Will be taking is often used for expected events or actions, and are taking is also possible for arrangements. Will take is possible but would suggest a decision being taken by the speaker rather than a description of the situation. The present perfect does not work here as it suggests an action which began in the past and continues to the present, not one beginning in the present and extending into the future.

2. The present simple is very common in news headline. If you look at the article you will see other verb forms used in the main body, such as present perfect and past simple.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello JameK,

The second sentence tells us that your mom prepares your lunch while you are in the process of eating breakfast.

The first sentence is ambiguous. It could mean that your mom waits until you have breakfast and then starts to prepare lunch. Maybe you prepare your breakfast and the kitchen is only available for her to prepare lunch once you sit down to eat, for example. Alternatively, it could mean that on certain days you don't have breakfast and on certain days you do and on the days when you have breakfast your mom prepares your lunch. Without any other context it's not clear.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team