Tense-Aspect Combinations in English

Habits, timeless truth, natural fact, scheduled events

• I usually eat at seven o’clock. (habit)
• Time is money. (timeless truth)
• Water boils at 100° Celsius. (natural fact)
• The box office opens at 6:00. (scheduled event)

Simple present is also often used with stative verbs

• Stative verbs usually show states, conditions, or relationships—
• but not action.

Some stative verbs

• admire
• agree
• care
• doubt
• consider
• imagine
• know
• realize
• prefer
• fear
• hate

• want
• wish
• appear
• be
• feel
• resemble
• seem
• weigh
• belong
• own
• represent

Some stative and dynamic verbs compared

• Stative
• admire
• agree
• care
• want
• wish
• appear

• Dynamic
• eat
• go
• sleep
• study
• dance
• laugh

Sample sentences using a stative verb

• Learning Spanish is difficult.
• Susan owns a red sports car.
• The baby doesn’t like cow’s milk.
• This room smells funny.
• Marie looks tired.
• Gasoline costs a lot these days.

Simple present sometimes shows that the action is complete or unchanging.

• More correctly, this “completeness” idea is a characteristic of simple aspect.
• This “completeness” idea is an important point and is sometimes difficult to grasp.
• (More about “completeness” and aspects later.)

Simple Past

• What is the form?

Simple Past

• Form: V2
• Examples: Susan walked; Larry ran.
• (“Simple” is the aspect; “past” is the tense.)