Act, Act in the Living Present!

Though English technically has three main tenses, the present, the past and the future, in many cases we can simply make do with the present tense. And this should not be too surprising considering that we are constantly being exhorted to live and act in "The Present". Take for example the newspaper headline "John Waters dies". To be very correct (or shall I say, to be very tense-d?), it should go as "John Waters died last night at 10:40 pm" but this somehow sounds flat. "John Waters dies" brings to us a sense of immediacy; it makes us feel that the time we are talking about is the recent 'past' without actually using the past tense, though it is clear to us that John Waters is not dying as we are reading that sentence.

Martha rushes into the room and says to Mary : "Mary ! I hear that you have found a new job!". That does not mean, of course, Martha is actually hearing about Mary's new employment as she talks to her. She heard about it in the past but once again the sense of the past is evoked without actually using the past tense. Or if someone has been talking to me non-stop for ten minutes and I want him to stop now, I can simply say : "I hear you ! " instead of " I have been hearing you for the last ten minutes". Another newspaper headline will bring this out clearly : " James Binns scores a century". Once again, the past is described as if it is happening right now. The present is often used this way in many history books : " 1941 --- Germany invades Russia, 1945 --- World War II ends". Or in statements like : "Gandhi fasts for a week."

This is often used in story-telling too. The story-teller starts : "I am walking down Magdalene Street and whom do I see? Oh, it is dear old Aunt Emily!" And all this is not only with regard to the past. The present tense can also be used in places where we normally would have expected the future form. I may say : "I leave for Paris tomorrow morning" or "I go to Italy this summer" instead of using a will/shall construction. Sometimes I can describe an action which I know will continue habitually into the future with a simple present as in "Margaret drinks tea". 'Scientific' statements often use this form of the present : "Water boils at 100 C" and "Oil floats on water".

The way speakers of a certain language use time-concepts is reflected in their use of tenses. In English, we say that we allow time, we have time and we waste time. We need it, spend it, play for it, value it, keep it, mock it, weigh it and buy it. Again we say that time flies, whiles away, runs, hangs, stands still, and drags. Time can even heal. And, of course, we can kill time too.