Content tagged with "present"

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Present simple for fixed future events (schedules, timetables and itineraries)

When talking about schedules, timetables and itineraries, the present simple tense is used to refer to a future event that is planned and is not likely to change:

Present simple for general truths

The present simple is used to express facts that are always true or events that always happen. This use is often described with the term "general truth":

A magnet attracts iron.
The sun rises in the east.
Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.

Present simple for present habits and states

The present simple tense is used to express repeated, habitual actions in the present. Adverbs of frequency, such as always, usually, regularly, frequently, often, sometimes, rarely, seldom, occasionally and never, and adverb phrases, for example, every year, once in a blue moon and three times a day, are often used with this tense:

Present simple in commentaries

The present simple is used in commentaries on events happening at the present moment to describe actions that are completed at the time of speaking:

Torres passes to Fabregas... Fabregas to Iniesta...
Then the curtain drops and the lights go out.

Present simple in instructions

The present simple tense is used in instructions as an alternative to the imperative. This use implies that the actions are or should always be performed in the same way or order:

Present simple to express past

Headlines

In news headlines, the present simple tense refers to past time:

Present simple with SINCE WHEN

Since when? with the present simple is used to indicate doubt or sarcasm:

Present subjunctive

The present subjunctive is identical to the bare infinitive form of the verb in all persons, including the third person singular (no final -s). It is usually used in formal or literary styles:

Second conditional

if + past subjunctive | would + infinitive (simple or continuous)

The second conditional can describe an unreal situation with reference to the present. We imagine a hypothetical situation which contrasts with reality:

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