present tense

Definition:

A verb tense that expresses action in the present time, habitual actions, or general truths. See also: Historic Present Tense.

Examples and Observations:

• "The general knowledge of time on the island depends, curiously enough, on the direction of the wind."
  (John Millington Synge)



• "Hermits have no peer pressure." (Steven Wright)



• "The present tense designates action occurring at the time of speaking or writing: She lives in Toronto. It is used to indicate habitual actions: I exercise every morning. It is also used to express general truths (Time flies) and scientific knowledge (Light travels faster than sound). . . .
  
  "Present tense also has some special uses:
  • to indicate future time when used with time expressions:
    We travel to Italy next week.
    Michael returns in the morning.
  • to describe works of literature and the arts:
    Hamlet avoids avenging his father's death for one reason."
  (Robert DiYanni and Pat C. Hoy II, The Scribner Handbook for Writers, 3rd ed., Allyn and Bacon, 2002)



• "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger at the broken places."
  (Ernest Hemingway)



• "As we grow old, the beauty steals inward."
  (Ralph Waldo Emerson)



• "Animals--lions and zebras and beautiful snakes--live vividly in the present tense, in a bright unconsciousness of time. That is their innocence and their limitation."
  (Lance Morrow, "The Trouble With The Present Tense," Time magazine, March 30, 1998)

Also Known As: simple present