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Present Tense – Positive, Negative and Interrogative

The present tense is used to describe actions or situations that are happening right now or are generally true. It’s one of the most basic and commonly used tenses in English. Let’s break down the present tense into its various forms: positive, negative, and interrogative.

1. Present Tense – Positive:

In the positive form, you’re simply stating what is happening or what is generally true.

Structure: Subject + Base Verb (Infinitive form)

Examples:

  1. I eat breakfast every morning.
  2. She walks to the park in the evening.
  3. They play soccer on weekends.

2. Present Tense – Negative:

In the negative form, you add the auxiliary verb “do” (or its variations) and “not” after the subject to indicate that the action is not happening or is not true.

Structure: Subject + do/does (negative form) + not + Base Verb

Examples:

  1. I do not (don’t) eat junk food.
  2. She does not (doesn’t) watch horror movies.
  3. They do not (don’t) like vegetables.

3. Present Tense – Interrogative:

In the interrogative form, you invert the subject and the auxiliary verb “do” (or its variations) to form a question.

Structure: Do/Does + Subject + Base Verb (Interrogative form)

Examples:

  1. Do you like swimming?
  2. Does he play the guitar?
  3. Do they go to the gym regularly?

Here’s a quick comparison of the three forms using the example sentence “She reads books.”

  • Positive: She reads books.
  • Negative: She does not (doesn’t) read books.
  • Interrogative: Does she read books?

Remember that for the third person singular (he, she, it), we use “does” in the negative and interrogative forms. For all other subjects, including plural forms, we use “do.”