Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

present tense

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.93 in modern English

Syllables: pre-sen-t tense
IPA

14

Scrabble Score

12

Letters

3

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time.

Example Sentences

"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. Humans carry with them their experiences, their pasts; men and women work with a knowledge of consequences and, doing so, impose order on the chaotic present and project consequences into the future."

Inflected Forms

present tenses (plural)

Phrases

dramatic present tense historical present tense historic present tense narrative present tense present historic tense present continuous

Frequently Paired Words

be is was present continuous

Synonyms

present

Questions

What does present tense mean?: A grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time.

How to pronounce present tense

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “present tense”.
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