CBSE Class 10 English Grammar - Tenses

CBSE Class 10 English Grammar –
Tenses
September 1, 2017 by Bhagya
Formulae Handbook for Class 10 Maths and Science
CBSE Class 10 English Grammar – Tenses

I. How would you define the term ‘Tense’?
The term ‘Tense’ denotes the form of a verb which shows the time at which an action
happened. So, the tense shows two things : (i) the time of the action
(iii) state expressed by the verb.
Look at these sentences:
 Reshma goes to school.

 Reshma went to school.
 Reshma will go to school.
In the above sentences (i) ‘goes’ (ii) ‘went’ and (iii) ‘will go’ are verbs.
In sentence (i), the verb ‘goes’ denotes the present tense and refers to the present time.
In sentence (ii), the verb ‘went’ denotes the past tense and refers to the past time.
In sentence (iii), the verb ‘will go’ denotes the future tense and refers to the future time.
By ‘Tense’ we can understand the correspondence between the form of the verb and
our concept of time (past, present and future).
II. ‘Time’ and ‘Tense’ are not the same thing. ‘Time’ is a universal concept. It has three
divisions: past, present and future. ‘Tense’ is related only to the verb.
It is not necessary that if the verb is in the present tense, it will show only the present
time. It is also not necessary that if the verb is in the past tense, it will show the past
time.
Look at the sentences:
 The match takes place on Sunday.
Here the verb ‘takes place’ is in simple present tense but expresses an action that will
take place in the future time.
 Mohan is about to come.
Here ‘present tense’ expresses the near future time.

 The Sun sets in the west.
It is a universal truth. Here, it stands for all the three times: past, present and future.
Note: Modem grammarians believe that there is no future tense in English to express
future time. We use the modal auxiliaries ‘shall’ and ‘will’, with the present tense, etc. to
express future time. But we are following the traditional grammarians in this book.
According to them English has three tenses, (i) Present Tense (ii) Past Tense and (iii)
Future Tense.
More Resources for CBSE Class 10
 NCERT Solutions
 NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Science
 NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Maths
 NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Social
 NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English
 NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Hindi
 NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Sanskrit
 NCERT Solutions for Class 10 Foundation of IT
 RD Sharma Class 10 Solutions
1. The following table shows the different forms of the verb:
2. Forms of the present Simple Tense:
 Thus we have seen that the Simple Present Tense is formed by using the plain
infinitive. But -s or -es are added to the bare infinitive (i.e. infinitive without ‘to’) for
the third person singular (He, She) and singular noun (Nitu)
 We form the negative sentences by using doesn’t or don’t before the main verb.
 The interrogative sentences are formed by using do or does before the subject.
 The negative interrogative sentences are formed by using do or does before the
subject and not after the subject.
But the short forms don’t and doesn’t come before the Subject.
You can master in English Grammar of various classes by our articles like Tenses,
Clauses, Prepositions, Story writing, Unseen Passage, Notice Writing etc.
We use Present Simple time to talk about things in general. We are not thinking only
about now. We use it to say that something happens all the time or repeatedly or that
something is true in general. Here it is not important whether the action is happening at
the time of speaking
Examples:
 I take my breakfast every day.

 We go to school.
We use Present Continuous tense to talk about something that is happening at or

around the time of speaking. The action is not finished. In such sentences is/am/are +
verb + ing is used to show continuation.
Examples:
 Girls are playing.

 I am watching TV.
Present Perfect tense is used to give information about an action that has recently been
completed. It is also used to talk about some action in the past that has a result now. In
such sentences verb ends with have/has + verb + ed/t/en/ne forms.
Examples:
 Tom has lost his key.

 I have forgotten your name.
Present Perfect Continuous tense is used to indicate an activity that continues from the
past until now repeatedly or an activity that has recently stopped. In these sentences
have/ has + been + v + ing form is used.
Examples:
 John looks sunburnt. He has been working under the sun since morning.
 Your clothes are very dirty. What have you been doing?
Past Tense
 I/You/He/She/It/We/They played. – (Affirmative)

 I/You/He/She/It/We/They didn’t play. – (Negative)
 Did I/You/She/It/We/They play? – (Interrogative)
All these sentences are in simple past. We use Past Simple for:
 Action completed in the past

 Actions which happened at a specific point in time.
 Past habits and past actions that happened immediately after the other.
Now look at the following sentences:
 I/He/She/It was playing. – (Affirmative)

 We/You/They were playing. – (Affirmative)
 I/He/She/It wasn’t playing. – (Negative)
 We/You/They weren’t playing. – (Negative)
 Was/I/He/She/It playing? – (Interrogative)
 Where were/We/You/They playing? – (Interrogative)
All these sentences are in Past Continuous. We use past continuous for:
 An action that was in progress at a stated time in the past.

 A past action which was in progress when another action interrupted it.
 Two or more actions were happening at the same time.
Let’s read the following sentences:
 Rohit had already left when we arrived at the party.

 He had broken his leg and it was still hurting.
 Everything had seemed normal at first.
All these sentences have been written in Past Perfect Tense. We use it to talk about an
action which finished before another action in the past.
We use certain time expressions with past perfect: before, already, after, just, when,
never, e
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 EXERCISING YOUR MIND

One of the advantages of reading is that it engages various parts of your
brain. When you read, you exercise your comprehension abilities and your
analytical abilities. It fires up your imagination and stimulates the memory
centers of your mind. It helps recall information as well as stabilize your
emotions.
The importance of a reading habit is that it strengthens mental muscles.
Reading is one of the best mental workouts there is. It’s been found that
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CBSE Class 10 English Grammar –

Formulae Handbook for Class 10 Maths and Science

CBSE Class 10 English Grammar – Tenses

 Reshma goes to school.

 The match takes place on Sunday.

 Mohan is about to come.

Here ‘present tense’ expresses the near future time.

More Resources for CBSE Class 10

1. The following table shows the different forms of the verb:

2. Forms of the present Simple Tense:

 I take my breakfast every day.

We use Present Continuous tense to talk about something that is happening at or

 Girls are playing.

 Tom has lost his key.

 I/You/He/She/It/We/They played. – (Affirmative)

 Action completed in the past

Now look at the following sentences:

 I/He/She/It was playing. – (Affirmative)

 An action that was in progress at a stated time in the past.

Let’s read the following sentences:

 Rohit had already left when we arrived at the party.

Reading enhances our life in several ways:

 EXERCISING YOUR MIND

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