Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Tenses

This is topic Tenses in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by thexmedic (Member # 2844) on :

My grammar stinks.

A lot of people here seem to know a lot more about than I do, and I keep on coming across references to things like "past reflexive tense" (or something) and I have literally NO idea what that is. If the pluperfect, reflective, upside-down tense attacked me in a darkened alley, I would be non the wiser. Past and present. Those are the tenses I know.

So, basically, I was wondering if some kind soul, would tell me what all these other tenses are.

Cheers.

Posted by wetwilly (Member # 1818) on :

I'm not going to list all the possible tenses because I'm at work and I don't know them off the top of my head, but I will say it probably isn't particularly important to know them by name (although I don't suppose it could hurt). You most likely already know how to use them correctly just by instinct as a native English speaker.

Posted by Beth (Member # 2192) on :

I learned everything I know formally about English verbs by studying other languages, but mostly it's instinct.

Google "english verb tenses" and you'll find a plethora of resources, including this one:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/esltensverb.html

Your library probably has a number of grammar books, too.

Posted by pantros (Member # 3237) on :

99% of what you write will be past, present, or past perfect (have/had).

past:
He walked to the bar.

present:
He walks to the bar.

past perfect: He had walked to the bar.

Past Perfect is used to denote something prior to the narrative tense.

"Joe walked to the liquor store. He had walked to the bar, but found it closed."

Many of the other tenses, like the various future tenses, are fancy ways to label things likes "should have", "Will", "Will have"
You don't need to know their names unless you are teaching them.

But check out the resources available. Wikipedia is well versed in this stuff in English and other similar languages.

Posted by tchernabyelo (Member # 2651) on :

Past Perfect is also often called Pluperfect.

And there are two present forms - simple and progressive.

Simple: "I like ice cream." "He walks to the bar."

Progressive: "I am enjoying this ice cream." "He is walking to the bar."

There is also the Present Perfect:

"I have eaten too much ice cream".

Commonly used in dialogue, but not in narration, where either simple past or pluperfect will normally be employed, according to context.

And then there's the Imperfect:

"I was walking to the bar, when..."

There's another version of this, which I don't even know the name of:

"I had been walking to the bar, when..."

I have seen the Simple Past referred to as Aorist (it certainly is in Ancient Greek grammar). There aren't necessarily as many tenses as you think; there are just lots of names for each of them...

(Oh, and all these ellipses are jsut to annoy Pantros )

[This message has been edited by tchernabyelo (edited August 08, 2006).]

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

I've never understood the appeal of grammar as a field of study.

There are a lot of different words to indicate tense, some of them fairly abstruse. Fortunately, you live in the information age and have internet access, so you can just look up any of these terms online should it become necessary for you to know what it means. As often as not, you'll find out that the person using it doesn't know what it means either.

Posted by Kadri (Member # 3402) on :

The most important thing to know when you're trying to understand tenses is that "perfect" means "complete"

So "past perfect" = It was already complete in the past.

"Imperfect" = It's not completed.

"Future perfect" = It will be complete in the future.

Posted by pantros (Member # 3237) on :

no, that's not right at all. (edit - okay, its right, but misleading without examples.)

Past perfect must include the word "have" in an appropriate form.
"He has..."
Same with future perfect.
"He will have..."
Imperfect is using a past tense form of "to be" followed by a -ing verb.
"He was walking"

[This message has been edited by pantros (edited August 08, 2006).]