Helping Hints for the Present
Auxiliary Verbs Used with Present Tenses
Knowledge of auxiliary verbs used in various tenses is the key to correct tense conjugation. Here is a review of auxiliary verbs used in present tenses:
Present Simple:
Use 'do / does' in questions and negative statements to express a routine or habitual action. Use no auxiliary verb in the positive form.
Example:
The expatriates from Japan don't visit the consulate on Saturdays.
How often do you alter your accounting policy?
BUT:
Phillip usually focuses on issues involving ethnicity.
Workplace standards usually slip over time.
Present Continuous:
Use 'am / is / are' in the present tense for the positive, negative and question forms in the present continuous tense to express something that is happening at the current moment, or around the present moment in time.
Example:
He is attending the specific cause fundraising event on Wednesday at two o'clock.
Gene is writing the social policy this afternoon.
Present Simple Passive:
Use the verb 'am / is / are' in the present for positive, negative and question in the present simple passive to express a present passive operation. Remember that the passive takes the participle form of the principal verb.
Example:
Staff communication is suppressed every second of every day.
That database isn't mined very often.
Present Perfect:
Use 'have / has' in the present for the positive, negative and question forms for the present perfect tense to express something that has happened up to the present moment in time, or something which has occurred at an unspecified moment in the past.
Example:
This community has been bombed seven times and has lost all essential services.
The watchdog agency has been awarded the Civic Achievement Award twice.
Present Perfect Continuous:
Use the verb 'have been / has been' in the present perfect for the positive, negative and question forms for the present perfect tense to express the duration of something that has been happening up to the present moment in time.
Example:
How long have we approached this problem as an issue of empowerment?
They've been walking the perimeter of the endowment property for two hours.