Simple present
Encyclopedia
The simple present or present simple is one of the present tenses used in modern English
, the others being the present continuous and the emphatic present. It is called "present" because it is often (but not exclusively) used in referring to the present time, and it is called "simple" because it consists of only a single word. In the third person singular of the simple present it is formed (with two exceptions) by adding s or es to the bare infinitive, as in "He sees you", while in all other person/number combinations the present simple is identical to the bare infinitive, as in "They see you" or "I see you". The two exceptions are "to have" and "to be": "to have" retains the bare infinitive form outside the third person singular, but in the third person singular it uses "has" as in he has a car; "to be" uses "am" in the first person singular, "is" in the third person singular, and "are" in all other person/number combinations, as in I am here, you are here, she is here.
The simple present is often employed in newspaper headline
s instead of the present perfect:
It is employed in if clauses referring to the future:
It is used when a planned event is described along with a time in the future:
It is used with stative verb
s in referring to states (unchanging situations) that exist in the present:
It can also be used when making a citation:
When a question word starts a sentence, do is included if the question word is not the subject of the sentence:
But when the question word is the subject of the sentence, the simple form is retained:.
It is used instead of present continuous in certain situations in a sentence as a temporal adverbial clause: ..., as we speak.
English verbs
Verbs in the English language are a part of speech and typically describe an action, an event, or a state.While English has many irregular verbs , for the regular ones the conjugation rules are quite straightforward...
, the others being the present continuous and the emphatic present. It is called "present" because it is often (but not exclusively) used in referring to the present time, and it is called "simple" because it consists of only a single word. In the third person singular of the simple present it is formed (with two exceptions) by adding s or es to the bare infinitive, as in "He sees you", while in all other person/number combinations the present simple is identical to the bare infinitive, as in "They see you" or "I see you". The two exceptions are "to have" and "to be": "to have" retains the bare infinitive form outside the third person singular, but in the third person singular it uses "has" as in he has a car; "to be" uses "am" in the first person singular, "is" in the third person singular, and "are" in all other person/number combinations, as in I am here, you are here, she is here.
Declarative sentences
The simple present is often used to express habitual actions referring to no particular span of time, such as in He walks to school'The simple present is often employed in newspaper headline
Headline
The headline is the text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it.It is sometimes termed a news hed, a deliberate misspelling that dates from production flow during hot type days, to notify the composing room that a written note from an editor concerned a...
s instead of the present perfect:
- Oldest man alive wins Olympic race
- Stock markets crash
It is employed in if clauses referring to the future:
- If he finds your sweets, he will eat them!
It is used when a planned event is described along with a time in the future:
- We leave for Berlin tomorrow at 1:00.
It is used with stative verb
Stative verb
A stative verb is one that asserts that one of its arguments has a particular property . Statives differ from other aspectual classes of verbs in that they are static; that is, they have undefined duration...
s in referring to states (unchanging situations) that exist in the present:
- I love you.
- She needs us.
- I know that.
It can also be used when making a citation:
- The label says "External use only."
Questions
In a yes-no question, the simple present becomes compound, employing the auxiliary do:- Does she go there often?
When a question word starts a sentence, do is included if the question word is not the subject of the sentence:
- "What does the man want to buy?"
But when the question word is the subject of the sentence, the simple form is retained:.
- Who feeds the cat?
Distinction from continuous form
The continuous (progressive) verb form in English conveys that an action is ongoing, as in "She is running right now". So for evolving situations in the present, the simple present form is not used. In contrast, the simple present is used for present situations that are not evolving, as in "I know that", which cannot be rendered as "I am knowing that."It is used instead of present continuous in certain situations in a sentence as a temporal adverbial clause: ..., as we speak.