Verbs: Present Tenses

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Simple Present Tense

Use the simple present tense for the following purposes:

1.	To make a generalization
	Example	We turn the clocks ahead every April.
2.	To indicate an activity that happens habitually or repeatedly
	Example	He works for Sony.
3.	To express future time in dependent clauses (clauses beginning with subordinating words such as if, when, before, after, until, as soon as) when will is used in the independent clause
	Example	When they arrive, the meeting will begin.
4.	To discuss literature and the arts (called the literary present)
	Example	In her essay, Joan Didion describes her feelings on arriving at her family home.
	When you refer to a work of fiction or poetry or to a film or play, use present tenses consistently, even though the work was written in the past.
	Example	Miss Ferenczi [in Charles Baxter's story "Gryphon"] delights her students with her strange stories. They have never before heard such questioning of authority in a classroom — and their parents have not, either.
	Use the present tense even when discussing an author who is no longer alive:
	Example	In Zami, Audre Lorde describes how a librarian introduces her to the joys of reading.
	However, when you write a narrative of your own, use past tenses to tell about past actions.
	Example	Then the candidate walked up to the crowd and kissed all the babies.

Present progressive

Use the present progressive to indicate an action in progress at the moment of speaking or writing.

Example

He is playing pool with his nephew.

Present Perfect and Present Perfect Progressive

Use the present perfect tense in the following instances:

1.	To indicate that an action occurring at some unstated time in the past is related to present time.

Example

They have worked in New Mexico, so they know its laws.

2.	To indicate that an action beginning in the past continues to the present

Example

They have worked in New Mexico for three years.

If you state the exact time when something occurred, use the simple past tense, not the present perfect.

Example

They worked in New Mexico three years ago.

Use the present perfect progressive when you indicate the length of time an action is in progress up to the present time.

Example

They have been dancing for three hours. [This sentence implies that they are still dancing.]