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Indicative Mood
204. The Indicative Mood is used:
(1) To make a statement of fact; as,
Rama goes to school daily.
We are taught Arithmetic.
He writes legibly.
Napoleon died at St. Helena.
The child is alive.
(2) To ask a question; as,
Have you found your book?
Are you well?
In each of these sentences the Verb in italics is said to be in the Indicative Mood.
205. The Indicative Mood is also used in expressing a supposition which is assumed as a
fact; as,
If [= assuming as a fact that] I am to be a beggar, it shall never make me a rascal.
If it rains, I shall stay at home. [Assuming as a fact that it will rain, etc.]
If my friend wants it, 1 shall give it to him. [Assuming as a fact that my friend wants it,."
etc.]
If he is the ring-leader, he deserves to be punished. [Assuming as a fact that he is the
ring-leader, etc.]
A Verb which makes a statement of fact or asks a question, or expresses a supposition
which is assumed as a fact, is in the Indicative Mood.
Imperative Mood
206. The Imperative Mood is used to express-
(1) A Command; as,
Wait there.
Come here.
Open your book at page 7.
(2) An exhortation; as,
Be steady.
Take care of your health.
Try to do better.
(3) An entreaty or prayer; as,
Have mercy upon us.
Give us this day our daily bread.
In each of these sentences the Verb in italics is said to be in the Imperative Mood.
A Verb which expresses a command, an exhortation an entreaty or prayer, is in the
Imperative Mood.
Note1.- The imperative mood can strictly be used only in the Second Person, since the
person commanded must be the person spo-
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ken to. But in the First and Third Persons a like sense is expressed by the use of the
Auxiliary Verb let; as,
Let me go.
Let us go.
Let him go.
Let them go.
Note 2.- The Subject of a Verb in the Imperative Mood (you) is usually omitted.
Subjunctive Mood
207. The following are the forms of the Subjunctive :
Present Subjunctive
the verb 'be' -- other verbs
I be -- I speak
We be -- We speak
You be -- You speak
He be -- He speak
They be -- They speak
Post Subjunctive
the verb 'be' -- other verbs
I were -- I spoke
We were -- We spoke
You were -- You spoke
He were -- He spoke
They were -- They spoke
The Subjunctive Mood scarcely exists in present-day English.
208. The Present Subjunctive occurs
(1) In certain traditional phrases, where it expresses a wish or hope ; as, .
God bless you !
God save the King !
Heaven help us !
(2) In formal English, in a noun clause dependent on a verb expressing desire, intention,
resolution, etc. ; as,
I move that Mr. Gupta be appointed Chairman.
It is suggested that a ring road be built to relieve the congestion.
We recommended that the subscription be increased to ten rupees.
209. The Past Subjunctive is used
(1) After the verb wish, to indicate a situation which is unreal or contrary to fact; as,
I wish I knew his name. (= I'm sorry I don't know his name,)
I wish I were a millionaire.
She wishes the car belonged to you.
(2) After if, to express improbability or unreality in the present; as,
If I were you I should not do that (but I am not you, and never can be).
If we started now we would be in time (but we cannot start now).
(3) After as if/as though, to indicate unreality or improbability; as,
He orders me about as if I were his wife (but I am not).
He walks as though he were drunk (but he is not).
(4) After it is time + subject; to imply that it is late; as,
It is time we started.
(5) After would rather + subject, to indicate preference; as,
I would rather you went by air (= I should prefer you to go by air).
They would rather you paid them by cheque.
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CHAPTER 24
TENS: INTRODUCTION
210. Read the following sentences:
1. I write this letter to please you.
2. I wrote the letter in his very presence.
3. I shall write another letter tomorrow.
In sentence 1, the Verb write refers to present time.
In sentence 2, the Verb wrote refers to past time.
In sentence 3, the Verb shall write refers to future time.
Thus a Verb may refer
(1) to present time,
(2) to past time, or
(3) to future time.
211. A Verb that refers to present time is said to be in the Present Tense; as,
I write.
I love.
[The word tense comes from the Latin tempus, time.]
A Verb that refers to past time is said to be in the Past Tense; as,
I wrote,
I loved,
A Verb that refers to future time is said to be in the Future Tense
I shall write,
I shall love.
212. Thus there are three main Tenses -
The Present,
The Past,
The Future.
The Tense of a Verb shows the time of an action or event.
Note : Sometimes a past tense may refer to present time, and a present tense may express
future time, as:
I wish I knew the answer. (= I'm sorry I don't know the answer. Past tense - Present
time)
Let's wait till he comes. (Present tense - future tense)
213. Below we give the chief Tenses (Active Voice, Indicative Mood) of the verb to love.
Present Tense
Singular Number -- Plural Number
1st Person -- I love -- We love
2nd person -- You love -- You love
3rd Person -- He loves -- They love
Past Tense
Singular Number -- Plural Number
1st Person -- I loved -- We loved
2nd person -- You loved -- You loved
3rd Person -- He loved -- They loved
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Future Tense
Singular Number -- Plural Number
1st Person -- I shall/will love -- We shall/will love
2nd person -- You will love -- You will love
3rd Person -- He will love -- They will love
214. Read these sentences:
1. I love. (Simple Present)
2. I am loving. (Present Continuous)
3. I have loved. (Present Perfect)
4. I have been loving. (Present Perfect Continuous)
The Verbs in all of these sentences refer to the present time, and are therefore said to be
in the present tense.
In sentence I, however, the Verb shows that the action is mentioned simply, without
anything being said about the completeness or incompleteness of the action.
In sentence 2, the Verb shows that the action is mentioned as incomplete or continuous,
that is, as still going on.
In sentence 3, the Verb shows that the action is mentioned as finished, complete, or
perfect, at the time of speaking.
The tense of the Verb in sentence 4 is said to be Present Perfect Continuous, because the
verb shows that the action is going on continuously, and not completed at this present
moment.
Thus we see that the Tense of a verb shows not only the time of an action or event, but
also the state of an action referred to.
235. Just as the Present Tense has four forms, the Past Tense also has the following four
forms:
1. I loved. (Simple Past)
2. I was loving. (Past Continuous)
3. 1 had loved. (Past Perfect)
4. I had been loving. (Past Perfect Continuous)
Similarly the Future Tense has the following four forms :
1. I shall/will love. (Simple Future)
2. I shall/will be loving. (Future Continuous)
3. I shall/will have loved. (Future Perfect)
4. I shall/will have been loving. (Future Perfect Continuous)
We may now define Tense as that form of a Verb which shows the time and the state of
an action or event.
216. A verb agrees with its subject in number and person. Study the verb forms of various
tenses:
Simple Present Tense
I speak
You speak
He speaks
We speak
They speak
Present Continuous Tense
• I am speaking
• You are speaking
• He is speaking .
• We are speaking.
• They are speaking.
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Present Perfect Tense
I have spoken
You have spoken
He has spoken
We have spoken
They have spoken
Simple Past Tense
I spoke
You spoke
He spoke
We spoke
They spoke
Past Perfect Tense
• I had spoken
• You had spoken
• He had spoken
• We had spoken
• They had spoken
Simple Future Tense
I shall/will speak
You will speak
He will speak
We shall/will speak
They will speak
Future Perfect Tense
I shall/will have spoken
You will have spoken
He will have spoken
We shall/will have spoken
They will have spoken
Present Perfect Continuous Tense
• I have been speaking
• You have been speaking
• He has been speaking
• We have been speaking
• They have been speaking
Past Continuous Tense
I was speaking
You were speaking
He was speaking
We were speaking
They were speaking
Past Perfect Continuous Tense
I had been speaking
You had been speaking
He had been speaking
We had been speaking
They had been speaking
Future Continuous Tense
• I shall/will be speaking
• You will be speaking
• He will be speaking
• We shall/will be speaking
• They will be speaking
Future Perfect Continuous Tense
I shall/will have been speaking
You will have been speaking
He will have been speaking
He shall/will have been speaking
They will have been speaking
A work from S. CHAND & COMPANY LTD.
Exercise in Grammar 45
Point out the Verbs in the following sentences and name their Moods and Tenses:-
1. The river flows under the brige.
2. I shall answer the letter to-night.
3. 1 knew he was there, for I had seen him come.
4. It has been raining all night.
5. I hear he has passed all right.
6. I had finished when he came.
7. He takes but little pride in his work.
8. I have been living here for months.
9. Be good, sweet maid.
10. By this time to-morrow I shall have reached my home.
11. It is time we left.
12. He told me that he had finished
13. God forgive you !
14. He is waiting for you in the compound.
15. Piper, pipe that song again.
16. I am hoping to get a holiday soon.
17. Perhaps it were better to obey him.
18. Do noble deeds, not dream them all the day.
19. I shall have plenty of time tomorrow.
20. Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.
21. The king had never before led his troops in battle.
22. If he was guilty, his punishment was too light.
23. We have heard a strange story.
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24. The travellers, all of whom had seen the chameleon, could not agree about its colour.
25. Beware lest something worse should happen to you.
26. The farmer is cutting the com which has ripened.
27. I wish my brother were here.
28. She would rather we stayed till tomorrow.
CHAPTER 25
THE USES OF THE PRESENT AND PAST TENSES
THE PRESENT Simple Present Tense
217. The Simple Present is used: -
(1) To express a habitual action; as,
He drinks tea every morning.
I get up every day at five o'clock.
My watch keeps good time.
(2) To express general truths; as,
The sun rises in the east.
Honey is sweet.
Fortune favours the brave.
(3) In exclamatory sentences beginning with here and there to express what is actually
taking place in the present; as,
Here comes the bus !
There she goes !
(4) In vivid narrative, as substitute for the Simple Past; as,
Soharab now rushes forward and deals a heavy blow to Rustam.
Immediately the Sultan hurries to his capital.
(5) To express a future event that is part of a fixed timetable or fixed programme
The next flight is at 7,00 tomorrow morning.
The match starts at 9 o'clock.
The train leaves at 5.20.
When does the coffee house reopen?
218. Note also the other uses of the Simple Present Tense.
(1) It is used to introduce quotations; as,
Keats says, ‘A thing of beauty is a joy for ever’.
(2) It is used, instead of the Simple Future Tense, in clauses of time and of condition; as,
I shall wait till yon finish your lunch.
If it rains we shall get wet.
(3) As in broadcast commentaries on sporting events, the Simple Present is used, instead
of the Present Continuous, to describe activities in progress where there is stress on the
succession of happenings rather than on the duration.
(4) The Simple Present is used, instead of the Present Continuous, with the type of verbs
referred to in § 221 on the next page.
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Present Continuous Tense
219. The Present Continuous is used
(1) For an action going on at the time of speaking ; as,
She is singing (now).
The boys are playing hockey.
(2) For a temporary action which may not be actually happening at the time of speaking;
as,
I am reading ‘Davit! Copperfield’ (but I am not reading at this moment).
(3) For an action that has already been arranged to take place in the near future; as,
I am going to the cinema tonight.
My uncle is arriving tomorrow.
220. It has been pointed out before that the Simple Present is used for a habitual action.
However, when the reference is to a particularly obstinate habit-something which
persists, for example, in spite of advice or warning- we use the Present Continuous with
an adverb like always, continually, constantly.
My dog is very silly: he is always running out into the road.
221. The following verbs, on account of their meaning, are not normally used in the
continuous form:
(1) Verbs of perception, e.g., see, hear, smell, notice, recognize.
(2) Verbs of appearing . e.g., appear, look, seem.
(3) Verbs of emotion, e.g., want, wish, desire, feel, like, love, hate, hope, refuse, prefer.
(4) Verbs of thinking, e.g., think, suppose, believe, agree, consider, trust, remember,
forget, know, understand, imagine, mean, mind.
(5) have (= possess), own, possess, belong to, contain, consist of, be (except when used in
the passive), e.g.
Wrong -- Right
These grapes are tasting sour -- These grapes taste sour.
I am thinking you arc wrong -- I think you are wrong.
She is seeming sad -- She seems sad.
He is having a cellular phone -- He has a cellular phone.
However, the verbs listed above can be used in the continuous tenses with a change of
meaning:
She is tasting the soup to see if it needs more salt.
(taste= lest the flavour of )
I am thinking of going to Malaysia.
(think of = consider the idea of)
They are having lunch, (have = eat)
Present Perfect Tense
222. The Present Perfect is used
(1) To indicate completed activities in the immediate past (with just): as;
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• He has just gone out.
• It has just struck ten.
(2) To express past actions whose time is not given and not definite; as,
Have you read "Gulliver's Travels'?
I have never known him to be angry.
Mr. Hari has been to Japan.
(3) To describe past events when we think more of their effect in the present than of the
action itself; as,
Gopi has eaten all the biscuits (i.e., there aren't any left for you).
I have cut my finger (and it is bleeding now).
I have finished my work (= now I am free).
(4) To denote an action beginning at some time in the continuing up to the present
moment (often with since- and/or-phrases); as,
• I Have known him for a long time.
• He has been ill since last week.
• We have lived here for ten years.
• We haven't seen Padina for several months.
223. The following adverbs or adverb phrases can also be used with the Present Perfect
(apart from those mentioned above): never, ever (in questions only), so far, till now, yet
(in negatives and questions), already, today, this week, this month, etc.
Note that the Present Perfect is never used with adverbs of past time. We should not say,
for example, 'He has gone to Kolkata yesterday'. In such cases the Simple Past should be
used ('He went to Kolkata yesterday').
Present Perfect Continuous Tense
224. The Present Perfect Continuous is used for an action which began at some time in
the past and is still continuing; as,
He has been sleeping for five hours (and is still sleeping).
They have been building the bridge for several months.
They have been playing since four o'clock.
225. This tense is also sometimes used for an action already finished. In such cases the
continuity of the activity is emphasized as an explanation of something.
'Why are your clothes so wet?' - 'I have been watering the garden'.
THE PAST
Simple Past Tense
226. The Simple Past is used to indicate an action completed in the past. It often occurs
with adverbs or adverb phrases of past time.
The steamer sailed yesterday.
I received his letter a week ago.
She left school last year.
227. Sometimes this tense is used without an adverb of time. In such cases the time may
be either implied or indicated by the context.
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I learnt Hindi in Nagpur.
I didn't sleep well (i.e, last night).
Babar defeated Rana Sanga at Kanwaha.
228. The Simple Past is also used for past habits; as,
He studied many hours every day.
She always carried an umbrella.
Past Continuous Tense
229. The Past Continuous is used to denote an action going on at some time in the past.
The time of the action may or may not be indicated.
We were watching TV all evening.
It was getting darker.
The light went out while I was reading.
When I saw him, he was playing chess.
As in the last two examples above, the Past Continuous and Simple Past are used together
when a new action happened in the middle of a longer action. The Simple Past is used for
the new action.
230. This tense is also used with always, continually, etc. for persistent habits in the past.
He was always grumbling.
Past Perfect Tense
231. The Past Perfect describes an action completed before a certain moment in the past;
as,
I met him in New Delhi in 1996. I-had seen him last five years before.
232. If two actions happened in the past, it may be necessary to show which action
happened earlier than the other. The Past Perfect is mainly used in such situations. The
Simple Past is used in one clause and the Past Perfect in the other; as,
When I reached the station the train had started (so I couldn't get into the train).
I had done my exercise when Han came to see me.
I had written the letter before he arrived.
Past Perfect Continuous Tense
233. The Past Perfect Continuous is used for an action that began before a certain point in
the past and continued up to that time; as,
At 'hat time he had been writing a novel for two months.
When Mr. Mukerji came to the school in 1995, Mr. Anand had already been teaching
there for five years.
Exercise in Composition 46
Choose the correct verb form from those in brackets:
1. The earth --- round the sun. (move, moves, moved)
2. My friends --- the Prime Minister yesterday, (see, have seen, saw)
3. I --- him only one letter up to now. (sent, have sent, send)
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4. She --- worried about something, (looks, looking, is looking)
5. It started to rain while we --- tennis, (are playing, were playing, had played).
6. He --- fast when the accident happened, (is driving, was driving, drove)
7. He --- asleep while he was driving, (falls, fell, has fallen)
8. I'm sure I --- him at the party last night, (saw, have seen, had seen).
9. He --- a mill in this town, (have, has, is having)
10. He --- here for the last five years, (worked, is working, has been working).
11. He thanked me for what I ---. (have done, had done, have been doing)
12. I --- a strange noise, (hear, am hearing, have been hearing).
13. I --- him for a long time, (know, have known, am knowing) '.
14. We ---,English for five years, (study, am studying, have been studying) .
15. Don't disturb me. I --- my homework, (do, did, am doing) .
16. Abdul --- to be a doctor, (wants, wanting, is wanting)
17. The soup --- good, (taste, tastes, is tasting)
18. He --- TV most evenings, (watches, is watch, is watching)
19. He --- out five minutes ago. (has gone, had gone, went)
20. When he lived in Hyderabad, he --- to the cinema once a week, (goes, went,
was going)
21. The baby --- all morning, (cries, has been crying)
22. I --- Rahim at the zoo. (saw, have seen, had seen)
23. I --- Kumar this week, (haven't seen, didn't see, am not seeing)
24. This paper --- twice weekly, (is appearing, appearing, appears)
25. Ashok fell off the ladder when he --- the roof, (is mending, was mending, mended)
Exercise in Composition 47
Choose the correct alternative from those given in brackets:
1. The Headmaster --- to speak to you. (wants, is wanting, was wanting)
2. I --- a new bicycle last week, (bought, have bought, had bought)
3. Here are your shoes ; I --- them, (just clean, just cleaned, have just cleaned)
4. It --- since early morning, (rained, is raining, has been raining)
5. I --- a lot of work today, (did, have done, had done)
6. I --- something burning, (smell, am smelling, have been smelling)
7. Look ! The sun --- over the hills, (rises, is rise, is rising)
8. She --- unconscious since four o'clock, (is, was, has been)
9. He used to visit us every week, but he --- now. (rarely comes, is rarely coming,
has rarely come)
10. We --- for his call since 4.20. (are waiting, have been waiting, were waiting)
11. Every day last week my aunt --- a plate, (breaks, broke, was breaking)
12. I know all about that film because I --- it twice, (saw, have seen, had seen)
13. Our guests ---; they are silting in the garden, (arrived, have arrived, had
arrived).
14. I --- him since we met a year ago. (didn't see, haven't seen, hadn't seen)
15. We --- our breakfast half an hour ago. (finished, have finished, had finished)
16. She jumped off the bus while it ---. (moved, had moved, was moving).
