Michael Jackman (IUS)

In English, we don’t actually use the present tense to talk about the present. For instance, if someone asked you what you did yesterday, you might say, “I met my friends for dinner.” But if they called you up on your cell phone and asked you what you were doing right now, you wouldn’t say:

“I meet my friends for dinner now.”

In English we use the present progressive to talk about what we are doing in the present: “I am meeting my friends for dinner,” probably because time doesn’t stand still long enough for us to capture it in present tense. Instead, in English time is always progressing, always active.

So we have this present tense, what do we use it for?

• Professions, hobbies, other things that describe identity and being: “I cook,” “I teach,” “I knit,” “I like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.”

• The present tense narrative voice in literature, i.e. fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction:

The twilight of evening. Big flakes of wet snow are whirling lazily about the street lamps, which have just been lighted, and lying in a thin soft layer on roofs, horses’ backs, shoulders, caps. Iona Potapov, the sledge-driver, is all white like a ghost. He sits on the box without stirring, bent as double as the living body can be bent.– “Misery,” Anton Chekhov

• Commands (imperative voice, also used for instruction writing and headlines). Here’s an example of each: “Return here with a shrubbery….One that looks nice….And not too expensive” (command). “To display the Print dialog box, press CTRL+P” (instruction text). “Use Different Quote Level Colors” (headline).

When you think about it, identity, being, and story time are timeless. So are imperative voice commands (they are uttered in a moment, but may or may not be fulfilled ever), instructional text and headlines. We use the present tense for things that are beyond time.