Present Indefinite Tense Rule

Rule I: Simple Present Tense is used to express habitual, regular or repeated action. For Examples:

• Robin Singh Rajput gets up at 8 a.m. every morning.
• He always goes to his village on Sunday.
• He reads a newspaper.
• He prefers milk to tea.
• He lives at New Ashok Nagar.
• He sometimes goes to the gym. He loves to take healthy food.
• I get up late in the morning and start the day with two glasses of water which is kept in a copper utensil.

Rule II:  Some ‘time expressing adverbs’ are used in the Present Indefinite Tense :

Always, often, sometimes, habitually, frequently, generally, usually, normally, never, seldom, hardly, scarcely, barely, rarely are used before actions in the sentences.

See the following examples:

• He seldom goes for a morning walk.
• She sometimes cooks dinner.
• They generally play football most evenings.
• Dimple always tells a lie.
• Preeti always motivates me regarding my education.
• I often drink on weekends.
• She dances very often at parties.

But some adverbs are used at the end of the sentences(Present Indefinite Tense Rule):

Every + (time), once a + time, twice a + time, thrice a + time

 Every day,        once a day,          twice a day,   thrice a day

Every week       once a week        twice a week    thrice a week

Every month    once a month        twice a month    thrice a month

Every year        once a year            twice a year       thrice a year

Every morning

Every evening

Every night, daily. Examples :

• She wakes up early every morning.
• He takes food at Jain Dharamshala every evening.
• He studies in the wee hours every day.
• She never comes late at night.

Rule III: Present Indefinite tense rule is used to denote universal truth, general truth (principle) and permanent activity. Examples:

• The earth revolves the Sun.
• The earth rotates on its axis.
• The sun rises in the east.     Universal truth
• Water boils at 100 degree Celcius.
• Two and two multiply four.       (General truth)
• He lives in Mumbai.   (Permanent activity)

Rule IV(Present Indefinite Tense Rule):

Conditional sentences generally start with two clauses. One of them is a principal clause, and another one is a subordinate clause.

Sub-ordinate clause: if, when, before, after, till, until, unless, as soon as, as long as and in the case are the conjunctions used with Present Indefinite Tense.

• If you come here,                                     I will lend you money.

Sub-ordinate clause                                     principal clause

Simple present tense                                   simple future tense

Sub + M.V¹/M.V⁵+ Obj                                sub + shall/will + M.V.¹ + obj

If any sentence starts with a conditional word that denotes future; it will be made in Present Indefinite Tense .

• When he goes for a long ride, I will play a video game.
• Unless she runs fast, she will not win the race.
• I shall teach her English if she comes here.

Sub-ordinate clause                                     principal clause

Simple present tense                                   simple future tense

Rule V(Present Indefinite Tense Rule):

This tense is used to express mental activity, emotions and feelings. Here are some examples are given below:

• I believe in God.  
• I think you should leave now.
• I know that you cannot help me at all.
• She feels bad.
• I consider him, he is an intelligent boy.
• He understands my situation.
• I hope you will get success.
•  She likes to go abroad.

Note:  Appear, Agree, believe, consider, desire,  feel, forget, recognize, refuse, prefer, think, imagine, mean, mind, know, love, hate, hope, suppose, understand, trust, remember, seem, want, wish, notice, recognize, see, hear, smell, look etc are used in simple present. These verbs are specially used in Present Indefinite Tense . If these verbs are used with present continuous tense have different meaning and purpose is also mentioned.

Exercise of Present Indefinite Tense Rule

1.  …….. Hindus ………… Diwali in amavasaya of kartik month. (Does, celebrates  b. do, celebrate   c. do celebrates)
2. …….. your friend ……… for a picnic? (Does, go   b. does, goes  c. do, go  d. do, goes)
3. The Earth …….. the sun. (Rotates  b. revolves   c. rotate   d. revolve
4. Two and two ……. Four. (Make  b. made  c. makes  d.  making)
5. The earth …….. on its axis. (Revolve  b. rotates  c. revolves  c. rotate)
6. Water ……. at zero degree Celsius. (Freeze  b. freezes  c. freezing )
7. If I ……  to Mumbai. I ……definitely meet you. (Will go, will  gone  b. go, will  c. goes, will be going  d. going, will)
8. When he ……. in a government job, he will be able to help his family. ( Will get selected  b. get selected  c. gets selected d. will gets selected)
9. Unless he …….. fast. He won’t be selected in a government job. (Doesn’t run  b. don’t run c. run   d. runs)
10. I ……. that you will be fine soon. (Hope  b. hoping  c. hopes)