Updated on July 22, 2014

Indefinite Tenses create a good amount of confusion among the CAT aspirants. Prof S K Agarwal, Expert on Verbal Ability shares the importance of usage and tips on how to prepare and solve the questions on indefinite tenses in CAT 2014 examination.

CAT aspirants tend to skip the petty errors in questions based on the usage of indefinite tenses in CAT while reading them in a flow

Picking out the errors in the usage of Indefinite Tenses are considered the easiest among questions based on all time zones in CAT as they represent real time – especially in present and past indefinite Tenses. Aspirants should, then feel quite happy if they come to know that CAT is fond of asking questions based on the usage of Indefinite Tenses.

But, this is not the situation. These simple tenses when clubbed to other parts of time zones, form sentences based on dual usage and create a good amount of confusion among the CAT aspirants. Prof S K Agarwal, Expert on Verbal Ability shares the importance of usage and tips on how to prepare and solve the questions on Indefinite tenses in forthcoming CAT 2014 examination.

CAT aspirants tend to skip the petty errors in questions based on the usage of indefinite tenses in CAT while reading them in a flow. It happened in past CAT examinations when such questions couldn’t get the attention of number of the CAT examinees as the errors were petty ones. The answer options which could have straight away been marked right were marked wrong. Instead of earning credit the attempts attracted penalty in earlier CAT exams.

Importance

How important is the study of Time Zones, with special reference to CAT, will become evident, when you come to know that not only in errors in sentence correction but also in the vocabulary usage – the concept is being used regularly.

• Indefinite tenses, when clubbed with continuous tenses indicate interruptions.

• Interruptions could be real interruption or an interruption in time

• Present Indefinite is used to connect, express habitual action, general or eternal truths, the actions that take place in present, to introduce quotations, to express a future event that is part of a fixed timetable or programme. It is used to denote customary and permanent actions or states. Usages are more in Reading comprehension, jumbled paragraphs.

• Past Indefinite is used to express such an action, completed in the past. It is also used to indicate past habits, a customary or a separate action referring to the past. (The time of the action may be indicated by adverbs of past time – yesterday, ago, a week ago, last month, two days ago). All these adverbs are used with past indefinite, please remember. Past Indefinite tense is more used in questions on error correction and vocabulary usage as it’s more prominently used with Past continuous and Past Perfect.

• Future Indefinite is used to express the actions which are supposed to be undertaken in future and we have no control over them. What we believe or think, likely to happen in future, is expressed in this tense. We sometimes use simple present tense to express the future as well.

Preparation tips

Certain tips, if followed, will help you to avoid the common mistakes in usage of Indefinite Tenses.
• To emphasize the statement the Auxiliary Verbs 'do' or 'does' are used even in the Affirmative Sentences. For example- I do teach students honestly and efficiently.

• The part of sentence that reflects interruption should be in indefinite tense. For example- While we were having the picnic, it started to rain (Real interruption);

• Specific time interruption could also be there in simple past, for example- At midnight, we were still driving through the desert; yesterday at this time, I was sitting at my desk at work.

• Please remember in the Simple past a specific time is used to show when an action began or finished. In the Past continuous, a specific time only interrupts the action. For example- Last night at 6 PM, I ate dinner ( I started eating at 6 PM); Last night at 6 PM, I was eating dinner (I started earlier and at 6 PM, I was in the process of eating dinner)

- -Conditional part of sentences beginning with ‘If’, ‘When’, ‘Unless’, ‘Till’, ‘Until’, ‘As soon as’ ‘In case’ cannot have auxiliary of future indefinite (will, shall) in that clause.

Following examples will further clarify this point

If it will rain, we will stay at home. (Incorrect)

If it rains, we will stay at home. (Correct)He will arrive late unless he will hurry up. (Incorrect)

He will arrive late unless he will not hurry up (Incorrect; use of double negatives unless and not apart from standard error in conditional clause)

He will arrive late unless he hurries up. (Correct; if the conditional clause is placed in the latter part of the sentence use of comma (,) is not required after the main clause used in the beginning)

• Indefinite tenses are used to express Parallelism. For example-He entered the room, took off his coat and set to work

• Repeat action in the past is often expressed in past indefinite with the usage of used to +Infinitive or would + Infinitive. For example-

I used to bathe before going out of my house; He would join me on the beach every morning.

• Some times past tense may refer to present time and present tense to future time. For example- I wish I attended the conference. ( I am sorry, I cannot attend the same);

Let us wait under the canopy till the rain stops. (Present tense for future action)

Indefinite Tenses in CAT

Questions based on the usage of Indefinite Tenses have frequently been asked in various CAT examinations. A few sentences/parts of such questions are placed below –

Direction-(Q 1 to 3) Below are given the sentences in which a part or the complete sentence has been underlined. Four options follow each question. The first of these repeats the original; the other three are different. If you think the original is the best, choose option A, else pick out the most appropriate option which, in your view expresses the best way of writing Standard English.

1. He has the same capacity as an adult of consents to surgical treatment.

A. He has the same capacity as an adult of consents to surgical treatment.

B. He has the same capacity as an adult to consent to surgical treatment.

C. He has the same capacity as an adult of consent to surgical treatment.

D. He has the same capacity as the adult for consents to surgical treatment.

1.A 2. B 3.C 4.D

2. She had managed to bite back the caustic retort on the tip of her tongue, while talking to her mother-in-law a few days ago.

A. She had managed to bite back the caustic retort on the tip of her tongue, while talking to her mother-in-law a few days ago.

B. She had been managing to bite back the caustic retort on the tip of her tongue, while talking to her mother-in-law a few days ago.

C.She would have managed to bite back the caustic retort on the tip of her tongue, while talked to her mother-in-law a few days ago.

D. She managed to bite back the caustic retort on the tip of her tongue, while talking to her mother-in-law a few days ago.

1.A 2.B 3.C 4.D

3. The prisoner’s internment has come to an end with his early release, proposed after a few days.

A. The prisoner’s internment has come to an end with his early release, proposed after a few days.

B. The prisoner’s internment came to an end with his early release, proposed after a few days.

C. The prisoner’s internment had come to an end with his early release, proposed after a few days.

D. The prisoner’s internment will come to an end with his early release, proposed after a few days

1.A 2.B 3.C 4.D

Direction-(Q 4 & 5) In the following questions there are four sentences or parts of sentences that form a paragraph. Identify the sentence(s) or part(s) that is/are incorrect in terms of grammar including spelling, punctuation, and usage. Then choose the most appropriate option.

Q.4

A. Why do you tell a lie to me while
B. I am knowing everything about you?
C. You know well that my house is containing five rooms and
D. a hall. At this price, I am not going to sell it off.
1.A&B 2.C&D 3.B&C 4.A&D

Q.5

A. Open the window and look through the window
B. whether it rains. It rained heavily
C. last night Most of the rivers are over flown during the rainy season.
D. It had better stop raining.
1. A & C 2. B & C 3. A,B&C 4. C&D

Answers to questions with explanation

Ans. Q.1 - 2B- He has the same capacity as an adult to consent to surgical treatment.( Pr. Ind.-infinitive used)

Ans. Q.2 - 4.D- She managed to bite back the caustic retort on the tip of her tongue, while talking to her mother-in-law a few days ago.( Past Ind. to be used with ‘Ago’)

Ans. Q.3 - 4.D The prisoner’s internment will come to an end with his early release, proposed after a few days. (Not yet released, will be released after a few days

Ans.Q.4: 3.B&C-B.I know everything about you-parallelism and permanent fact; C- contains five rooms-again a permanent fact so simple present.

Ans.Q.5: 2.B & C. Explanation – B. Whether it is raining since the enquiry is for the particular point of time but does not amount to any type of interruption. C. Full stop is required after night as ‘M’ of most begins in Capital, rivers overflow on their own in rainy season, so incorrect use of passive is there. The sentence should be in Active Voice ‘last night. Most of the rivers overflow during the rainy season’.

Important note for aspirants

Please do not undermine the importance of Time zones in CAT 2014 as is evident with above few questions. So, study and understand them.

• Do not leave study of Time Zones to chance since a small and common type of error might skip the attention during the course of reading the question.

• Focus on Direction of the question, it might be asking you to pick out the correct or incorrect sentences. Any presumed reading might make you pick the wrong answer option.

• The aspirants should not only understand the rules but also attempt as many exercises as they can.

10 tips to improve reading skill and enrich Vocabulary to succeed in CAT 2014 exam

CAT 2014 exam: Last or First sentence of paragraph; Be ready for surprises in CAT 2014

Jumbled Paragraphs in CAT 2014: Know the types & how to prepare

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