Importance of Tenses in Essay Writing - Simple Tips- 2022 Guide
It’s about the perspective of the word and its concurrent etymology if you look at it really - you can be either tensed, or apply tenses. Many essay writer feel tense when using tenses, or being careful about it. Essentially they are tense about tenses.
Tenses, in the grammatical sense, refers to the frame of time the essay or text is written in. It can either recount past events, something occurring in the present, or provide insight and predictions of the future. In short, tenses consist of three types - past, present and future.
I’ll be humble and state that I’m not very good at tenses, however it has never hindered whenever I write my essay.
Now, time to get tense!
First off, let’s establish what tenses are, how many there are, and how we can characterize them. Then, we’ll establish why tenses are important to essays.
- Past tense
Past tense is as the name suggests - something that occurred or happened in the past. As such, the essay will essentially be a recollection of events, or a recount of history.
Every sentence and phrase essentially follows the convention of subject, verb, object (or S.V.O)
Subject is the action performer; the entity or person or individual that acts. Verbs are obviously the action being performed, and the object is the entity or person the action is performed upon.
All of the meat of the sentence boils down to the verb. The three forms of verbs is what states the grammatical tense of the sentence. As such there are four more categories involving past tenses and their concurrent verbs which are:
- Simple Past
The main usage of the simple past tense is mapped out around actions that happened at a definite time, actions that occurred in sequence, or actions that were completed in the past.
- Past Continuous
The main usage of the past continuous tense is mapped out around actions that were ongoing in the past, subsequent actions occurring, or had an indefinite time expression
- Past Perfect
The main usage of the past perfect tense is mapped out around the completion of actions that had occurred in the past
- Past Perfect Continuous
The main usage of the past perfect continuous/progressive tense is essentially the combination of two previously defined tenses, i.e. past perfect, and past continuous. Thus, it is mapped around the completion of an event that had been occurring in the past.
- Present tense
Present tense refers to the time frame of events or actions currently occurring in the present time. As such the structure of the sentence is shifted according to the verb forms used.
- Simple Present
The simplest of all tenses as all tenses are modifications of this sentence structure. Simply put, it describes the actions, truths, future, and situations that occur in the present time
- Present Continuous
The main usages of the present continuous tense are mapped around actions that are currently happening, actions that are planned, events that are changing, and actions expressed at the moment of speaking.
- Present Perfect
The main usage of the present perfect tense describes the expression of time taken to complete the action, action recently completed, or to describe both definite and indefinite amounts of time.
- Present Perfect Continuous
The main usage combines two of the previously discussed tenses, present perfect and present continuous, and basically expresses the transition of an action that occurred in the past currently being completed in the present.
- Future Tense
Ah yes! The future. A mystery to many a man alike: like you and me. However, we are not here to philosophize about the inevitable end of time or the prediction of the future. We are here to discuss the tenses that exhibit the future.
- Simple Future
The main usage of the simple future tense is an action that will likely happen or occur. Emphasis on the word likely, which is synonymous with assumptions, prediction, and/or decisions
- Future Continuous
The main usage of the future continuous tense is an action that will be likely to continue happening or be ongoing in the future.
- Future Perfect
The main usage of the future perfect tense is an expression of an action that will definitely occur or will definitely be completed in the future with certainty.
- Future Perfect Continuous
Once again, it combines both previously discussed tenses, future perfect and future continuous, as the main usage describes an action occurring now that will have been completed after a certain amount of time.
Right! Now that you’ve understood an overview of the tenses involved in grammar, you must now beg the question, why study all this? What’s the point?
Once again, if you believe that my insight isn’t enough, our handy dandy essay writing service are always there to save the day!
Fret not, friend! For I am here to quell your questions to oblivion (I hope)
You will now apply all this acquired overview of tenses to writing essays, that will be time-specific and consistent.
As we have established, there are many types of essays, however, their context heavily depends on the time frame each essay is provided with. If it is an expository essay, most probably you will be recollecting or recounting past events and history in order to establish an exposition based on evidence.
Similarly, a narrative is actions and events that are occurring in the present, as it is a narration or a story you wish to impart to the reader. Wherever uncertainties are involved we always look at the future tense, in order to scope out or provide substantial predictions to provide a strong argument.