SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE-It is used to describe habits, unchanging situations, general truths, and

fixed arrangements. The simple present tense is simple to form. Just use the base form of the verb: (I
take, you take, we take, they take) The 3rd person singular takes an -s at the end. (he takes, she takes)

To express habits, general truths, repeated actions or unchanging situations, emotions and wishes:

I smoke (habit); I work in London (unchanging situation); London is a large city (general truth)

To give instructions or directions:

You walk for two hundred meters, then you turn left.

To express fixed arrangements, present or future:

Your exam starts at 09.00

To express future time, after some conjunctions: after, when, before, as soon as, until:

He'll give it to you when you come next Saturday.

NOTES ON THE SIMPLE PRESENT, THIRD PERSON SINGULAR

 In the third person singular the verb always ends in -s:

he wants, she needs, he gives, she thinks.
 Negative and question forms use DOES (= the third person of the auxiliary 'DO') + the
infinitive of the verb.
He wants ice cream. Does he want strawberry? He does not want vanilla.
 Verbs ending in -y : the third person changes the -y to -ies:
fly --> flies, cry --> cries
Exception: if there is a vowel before the -y:
play --> plays, pray --> prays
 Add -es to verbs ending in:-ss, -x, -sh, -ch:
he passes, she catches, he fixes, it pushes
SIMPLE PAST TENSE The simple past tense is used to indicate or describe something that
happened or existed in the past. The situations or conditions to use a simple past tense is to:

 describe an action, event or condition that occurred in the past or at a specified time
 refer or describe an action that has been completed and there is no time mentioned.
 describe an action or occurrence of an event that is done repeatedly and regularly.
 describe a state of mind in the past or a feeling that was felt in the past.
 refer to someone who has died
 describe events that have occurred in quick succession in the past.

To formulate the simple past tense verb, we add ‘- ed’. For verbs ending in ‘e’, we add ‘-d’ and.
However, there are some simple past tense verbs such as cut, put

, set etc which remain the same in the present and past tense. Examples are,

 He worked at the Cheesecake Factory.

 I often brought my lunch to school.
Past Perfect Uses

Completed Action Before Something in the PastThe past perfect expresses the idea that something
occurred before another action in the past. It can also show that something happened before a specific
time in the past.

Examples:

I had never seen such a beautiful beach before I went to Kauai.

I did not have any money because I had lost my wallet.

Tony knew Istanbul so well because he had visited the city several times.

Had Susan ever studied Thai before she moved to Thailand?

She only understood the movie because she had read the book.

Kristine had never been to an opera before last night.

We were not able to get a hotel room because we had not booked in advance.

A: Had you ever visited the U.S. before your trip in 2006?

B: Yes, I had been to the U.S. once before.

Present Perfect Uses-The present perfect is a verb tense which is used to show that an action has taken
place once or many times before now.

USE 1 Unspecified Time Before Now

We use the present perfect to say that an action happened at an unspecified time before now. The exact
time is not important. You CANNOT use the present perfect with specific time expressions such as:
yesterday, one year ago, last week, when I was a child, when I lived in Japan, at that moment, that
day, one day, etc. We CAN use the present perfect with unspecific expressions such as: ever, never,
once, many times, several times, before, so far, already, yet, etc.

Examples:

I have seen that movie twenty times.

I think I have met him once before.

There have been many earthquakes in California.

People have traveled to the Moon.

People have not traveled to Mars.

Have you read the book yet?