Hey there!
So, apparently my good friend Tun who is currently in KKTM
Ledang for a preparation to overseas next year (You go girl!) asks my help to
settle her confusion regarding to some complicated tenses. To be honest I don’t really know about the
vocab, tense or etc rules. So, I’ll try to explain differently. Hope you
understand J
I’ll provide some examples and ways to really know if the
tenses should suit your current conversation or sentence.
Supposed to be Afiqah is in the escalator
wanting to go up to Level 9. Suddenly the lift stops at level 6 and someone rushes in the lift.
Nazirul glides in
without having to notice her presence and bumps roughly at her by the shoulders.
“What are you doing!? Can’t you see me?,”
she rolls her eyes at him.
“What?”
“Me!
Can’t you see I’m standing
here?”.
Apparently if we’re Afiqah it’s basically a ‘now-scene’. How
do we know if it’s a ‘now-scene’? Easy. Look at the clues I’ve highlighted.
The concept of an OBJECT + ACTION (that ends with either ‘s’
or none) =NOW SCENE
First clue settled. It’s categorized in the ‘present tense
family’.
Supposed you’re Afiqah, you’re totally mad at Nazirul for
bumping into you without saying sorry. Note this, before he came you were
standing. So? You were also standing when he bumped into you, correct? It means
you’re maintaining your act. That is standing. When you tend to do the same act
before and after the situation happened, that’s when you use the word ‘I’m
standing’. A continuous act.
Get it?
You’re madly feeling oppressed because he was bothering your
‘right-now-standing’ posture. That’s when you go “Me! Can’t you see I’m standing here?”.
You’re
continuing to stand and yet you’re mad because someone bothers your physical
state of standing.
See? RIGHT NOW +
(before and after same act scene) = ‘Can’t you see I’m standing?’(‘..ing’
word)
That’s how you ought
to know if your say is either correct or wrong. In my opinion even if we’re learning to learn to write or speak English, the types of tenses don’t help.
But if you want to know, it’s a present continuous. ^.^
Now, what’s the difference between these two tenses.
Present Prefect and
Present Prefect Continuous?
Basically if you already understand the concept of when you
have to say the ‘ing’ word, you’ll know this is very easy.
Present Perfect.
I honestly don’t know what’s it
actually for but what I can say is that a present perfect is a tense which is
usen in a PRESENT
conversation yet you’re dragging in some of the PAST in the RIGHT NOW SCENE.
Example:
Hairdresser: I had a lot of
strange customers in my time.
Customer: I wonder if you have ever shaved a man with a
wooden leg.
Hairdresser: No. I always use a
razor.
To know it’s a present tense, you
don’t have to search for the word ‘s’ or ‘ed’ in the conversation. In my opinion,
if you ought to know, every conversation/dialog is considered present. Yeap,
even if it is said during the past. Imagine that you’re talking, present right?
The statements above are just recordings of the conversation between the
hairdresser and customer. Technically, we have to note if we have an
interaction with an individual, always use a present tense.
Now, the tricky part.
Combining the PAST in the PRESENT
conversation.
Hairdresser: I had a lot of
strange customers in my time.
The hairdresser is talking in
present time with the customer about his past. That’s why he uses the word
‘had’ rather than ‘have’. To say that he used
to, not anymore. Big difference there.
Another example:
Afrina: Do you think it’s easy to
come up with a new plan? I have a bad feeling about this.
Afiqah: Certainly. I have been used to
do this ever since I learned
the word A,B,C.
Present tense? = Dialog
conversation
Clue: ‘have been used’ and ‘learned’
=past reference
Past reference in dialog
conversation = something you speak now about the past. (Present Prefect)
Get it? :D
Lastly, Present Perfect
Continuous.
I won’t need to explain much on
this cause it’s basically the same with the concept of Present Prefect.
(Something now that you speak about the past).
Really? The same?
Aha. No.
What makes it differ is the ‘ing’
word. And yes, it’s not present perfect because
Present Perfect Continuous is something you say in the PRESENT,
talking about what you’ve did in the PAST that is still in done in the PRESENT.
If you understand, it’s similar
with the first example of Afiqah and Nazirul.
The scene is in the present,
you’re having a dialog about what you do since the past. Let me give an example
on this:
”I have been singing since I was 2 years old”
“Oh, no wonder you’ve lost your
voice”.
Get it?
You’re directing
something you do in both PRESENT and PAST SCENE.
Both PRESENT AND PAST =
continuous = ‘ing’ use.
So, if present continuous and
present prefect continuous are the same, what differs them?
Read this dialog:
Afiqah: Af, why are you so
stressed? Wasn’t the paper easy?
Afrina: I have been studying everything and I can’t
believe I just kinda forgot!
Afiqah: Hmm, how about we got
eat? I’ll be here in the corner, waiting for you.
Afrina: Alright, I really need
this headache a lift.
See?
‘have been studying’ = means, she’s studying a lot. Maintaining the
act of studying during the past and continuing to do same in the present.
‘waiting’ + any present word
(I’ll) = means, she’s continuing to wait, in the current present time.
Easy to say, if we ought to refer
something we used to do and still do, add the ‘been’ word and say ‘ing’.
Now, we’re done! Finally. So
let’s get to a conclusion shall we?
1. Present
tense = A dialog conversation, the ‘s’ or none instead of ‘ed’ behind a word.
2. Present
continuous =Maintaining the same acts in 2 present scenes, ‘ing’ word.
3. Present
Prefect= saying something you do in the past to your present conversation.
4. Present
Prefect Continuous= a combination of maintaining the past act with the present
act and yet talking in the present. (add ‘have been’)
The past tense is just an
opposite, you’ll now. Whatever it is, I hope I don’t get you a headache and
make you understand more. Haha.
Anyways, I’d remind that even I
myself who figured out this method explains this, I don’t even apply them. It’s
just to understand, and surely I bet even you, have a trouble to apply this.
Well, don’t. All you need to do is read a lot and keep speaking in English.
Note that. Nothing is better than these 2 methods I tell you. J
Have a great day!
Just for fun :)
