How to Use present tense in a Sentence

present tense

noun
  • Each telling places me in the eternal present tense.
    — David Greig september 15, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2025
  • This film is about something more alive, more present tense.
    — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
  • Verb tense refers to the past or present tense of a sentence.
    — Carmine Gallo, Forbes, 9 Mar. 2023
  • George sometimes still talks about his wife in the present tense.
    — Patrick Connolly, orlandosentinel.com, 19 Oct. 2020
  • But the present tense of the film is also rich in its own right.
    — K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone, 3 July 2021
  • Many people here still speak of Mueller in the present tense.
    — Katie Bain, Billboard, 16 Sep. 2021
  • These are all actions done in the present tense, scrambling to meet present needs.
    — Josephine Livingstone, The New Republic, 24 June 2020
  • The movie screenwriters changed it to present tense for more suspense.
    — Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 31 Aug. 2021
  • Sam and Bucky seem to go out of their way not to talk about Steve in the present tense.
    — Chris Smith, BGR, 2 Apr. 2021
  • Cutler doesn’t look back so much as try to tell Belushi’s story in a present tense.
    — Jason Zinoman, New York Times, 22 Nov. 2020
  • But the narrative keeps circling back to the present tense of the story.
    — Cressida Leyshon, The New Yorker, 29 Nov. 2021
  • The technique is not one of flashbacks from a dominant present tense.
    — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 2 Nov. 2023
  • When visiting your old college campus, try to stay in the present tense.
    — Beth Thames , al, 30 Oct. 2019
  • Like both versions, the Invite entries should be in present tense.
    — Washington Post, 2 Dec. 2021
  • To watch those scenes in 2021 is to have history speak in the present tense.
    — Manuel Betancourt, Vulture, 7 June 2021
  • Kennedy argued that the use of present tense in state law opened the door for releasing the records after death.
    — Laura A. Bischoff, The Enquirer, 26 Apr. 2022
  • And any response people have in the present tense is going to be pretty ephemeral.
    — Joe Fassler, The Atlantic, 18 July 2019
  • The movie unfolds in present tense and the music has to consider that always.
    — Paul Grein, Billboard, 24 Jan. 2020
  • The idea for the book definitely came from the conditions of our present tense.
    — Michele Filgate, Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2022
  • The book’s use of present tense rushes us along on the leading edge of her experience.
    — Priscilla Gilman, BostonGlobe.com, 1 Sep. 2022
  • For me, using the present tense to create unfolding action was part of that.
    — Washington Post, 29 Jan. 2022
  • Karrant has changed the lyrics from past to present tense — the better to look ahead to the future, rather than back at the past.
    — David L. Coddon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 June 2021
  • The movie never settles on a mood or a rhythm for the flashback/present tense seesawing.
    — Michael Phillips, chicagotribune.com, 24 May 2018
  • But how the letter handles the present tense is the most vivid transformation.
    — New York Times, 7 June 2022
  • When discussed in the present tense, ebooks means Amazon Kindle ebooks.
    — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 14 Sep. 2021
  • The short story glances on the protagonist’s past; the movie begins there, as present tense.
    — Michael Phillips, chicagotribune.com, 9 Dec. 2021
  • This gripping drama tells a story that is also being written in the present tense.
    — Guney Yildiz, Forbes, 24 May 2021
  • To live in the present, in the present tense, is where real work can happen and real influence happens.
    — Carla Sozzani & Azzedine Alaïa, Town & Country, 7 Sep. 2017
  • Then in Falcon, the script went out of its way not to address Steve Rogers in the present tense.
    — Chris Smith, BGR, 28 June 2021
  • Kujabi says, speaking in the present tense as if Jammeh were still president.
    — Jon Rosen, Slate Magazine, 7 Aug. 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'present tense.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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