AKA: present simple or simple present tense

Linguistics is the study of language.

Strawberries are delicious.

Penguins don’t live at the North Pole.

Two plus two equals four.

🧾Definition

The timeless present is the verb tense we use for clauses that present unchanging facts, phenomena, or definitions. Although traditional grammars called this tense the present simple, functional grammar emphasizes that the tense rarely describes what is happening right now (see present progressive). Instead, it indicates that the information is not limited by time: it is simply always true from the writer’s perspective. Penguins are flightless birds. Water freezes into ice. I am Batman.

🔬Discovery

| Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. The word penguin first appears in literature at the end of the 16th century. When European explorers discovered what are today known as penguins in the Southern Hemisphere, they noticed their similar appearance to the great auk of the Northern Hemisphere, and named them after this bird, although they are not closely related. (Wikipedia) | 1. Do the verbs in bold refer to penguins at a particular time or at all times? 2. What other tense is used in the text? Why? 3. Why does appears end in an -s?  4. What is another way to write are not in the last sentence? | | --- | --- |

✅Form

• The timeless present is the ****base form of the verb.
• The inflectional suffix s is required for third-person singular verbs (it lives, he appears, the penguin prefers, she knows).
• There are three irregular verbs in this tense: be, have, and do (he/she it does). Note that the third-person form still ends in an s (she has, he is).
• Some verbs can be contracted, especially in speech and less formal written registers (see below).
• The negative form of be and have is often contracted (see negation).
• WEIRD *I amn’t isn’t possible but the question form is aren’t I?

<aside> ⚠️ Careful!

• Contractions can’t be used as short answers - e.g. Who’s next? I am (not *I’m).
• In the third person, be and have can look the same: e.g. he’s angry (he is angry), it’s been a long time (it has)
• The -s suffix looks easy but is notoriously difficult for multilingual learners to use consistently. Some research suggests is the last inflectional suffix to be acquired in English. The -s carries very little meaning and is unlikely to affect comprehension. For these reasons, teachers and students usually have more important language to focus on, and MLLs should not usually be penalized for errors in subject-verb agreement. </aside>

💬Functions

The timeless present fundamentally presents information as true and unchanging, from the speaker/writer’s perspective. It is very common in scientific, mathematical, and technical language. It can appear in all Key Language Uses, but it is less common in narration. The timeless present is very important in definitions (Explain), which describe what a thing is, has, or does. Because it presents information as facts, the timeless present sounds very authoritative and confident. As such, it contrasts with the use of modal verbs (compare dodos are extinct to dodos may be extinct).