All action words (verbs) denote tense – the time of occurrence (present, future, or past) of the action. We shall here explore the usage of “encourage” in all English tense forms.
The verb “encourage” means to provide hope and confidence, to motivate, to persuade, to support, to assist and to make something happen. While “encourage” denotes the continuous, simple, perfect, and perfect continuous forms of the future, present, and past tenses, it undergoes a number of grammatical inflections.
This article will detail how, when, and why the verb “encourage” represents the four different forms of each of the three tenses in English.
“Encourage” in present tense
The present tense indicates the actions occurring now (at the current moment or regularly). Here, we shall examine the usage of the verb “encourage” in the present tense.
The verb “encourage” in the present tense has many forms such as ‘encourage,’ ‘encourages,’ ‘is encouraging,’ ‘has/have encouraged,’ and ‘has/have been encouraging’.
Example: You never fail to encourage your students.
In the above example, the verb “encourage” is used in its base form in the simple present tense to represent the action of the subject ‘you’ motivating the students on a regular and daily basis.
When is “encourage” used in the present tense?
The verb “encourage” in the present tense is used to show the current or ongoing actions of motivating, persuading, giving hope and confidence, making something happen, assisting, and supporting.
Sentence formation of “encourage” in the present tense
| Forms Of Present Tense | Structures |
| 1. Simple Present Tense | a. First/second person plural/singular Subject + encourage + object + end of the sentence b. Third person singular subject + encourages + object + sentence end c. Plural third person subject + encourage+ object + rest of the sentence |
| 2. Present Continuous Tense | a. Singular first Person subject + am + encouraging + object+ end of the sentence b. Plural first person subject + are + encouraging + object + rest of the sentence c. Singular/plural second person + are + encouraging + object + remaining sentence d. Singular third person + is + encouraging +object + sentence end e. Plural third person + are+ encouraging + object + remaining sentence |
| 3. Present Perfect Tense | a. Singular/plural first /second person subject + have + encouraged+ object + end of the sentence b. Singular third person subject + has + encouraged + object + last part of the sentence c. Plural third person subject + have + encouraged+ object + rest of the sentence |
| 4. Present Perfect Continuous Tense | a. Singular/plural first/second person subject + have + been + encouraging + object + end of the sentence b. Singular third person subject + has + been + encouraging + object + last part of sentence c. Plural third person subject + have + been + encouraging + object + sentence end |
Examples of “encourage” in the present tense
| Examples | Explanations |
| a. I/We/ You encourage the decision taken by the committee. b. Vittal encourages the decision taken by the committee. c. The employees encourage the decision taken by the committee. | The verb “encourage” and its inflected form ‘encourage’ are utilized in the present simple tense here to mark the current action occurring now when the subject supports the decision taken by the committee. |
| a. I am encouraging Suman in his new endeavour. b. We are encouraging Suman in his new endeavour. c. You are encouraging Suman in his new endeavour. d. Tanshika is encouraging Suman in his new endeavour. e. All the students are encouraging Suman in his new endeavour. | Here, the letter ‘e’ is removed and ‘-ing’ is added to the base verb “encourage” to create the present continuous form, ‘encouraging’ to denote the current or present ongoing (happening at this moment) actions of the subject motivating and supporting Suman in his new endeavour. |
| a. I/we/ You have always encouraged Dolly to help the needy and the poor. b. Geeta has always encouraged Dolly to help the needy and the poor. c. My parents have always encouraged Dolly to help the needy and the poor. | The verb “encourage” here is used in the present perfect tense with the past participle ‘encouraged’ along with ‘have/has’ as ‘has/have encouraged’. It marks that the actions of the subject motivating and supporting Dolly to help the needy started back in the past which has its effect even now. |
| a. I/We/You have been encouraging Priyanka to start her beauty salon for several months by giving her some important business advice. b. Rohit has been encouraging Priyanka to start her beauty salon for several months by giving her some important business advice. c. The friends have been encouraging Priyanka to start her beauty salon for several months by giving her some important business advice. | The verb “encourage” is utilized as ‘has/have been encouraging’ in the present perfect continuous to mark that the subject’s acts of motivating, assisting, and supporting Priyanka to start her beauty salon began several months before but is still continuing to happen (till now -present). |
“Encourage” in past tense
The past tense refers to actions that had occurred (any time prior to the moment now). Here, we will get to know the usage of the verb “encourage” in various past tense forms.
The verb “encourage” in the past tense takes different forms, such as ‘encouraged,’ ‘was/were encouraging,’ ‘had encouraged,’ and ‘had been encouraging’ after going through some grammatical inflections.
Examples: I won the competition because my friends encouraged me a lot.
Here, the verb “encourage” is used as ‘encouraged’ to denote the past tense of the action. The usage of ‘encouraged’ shows that the friend’s action of supporting, cheering, boosting, or motivating the subject is completed or over sometime back in the past.
When is “encourage” used in the past tense?
The verb “encourage” in the past tense is used to show the already completed or over activities of supporting, cheering, giving confidence and hope, making something happen, or persuading.
Sentence formation of “encourage” in the past tense
| Forms Of Past Tense | Structures |
| 1. Simple Past Tense | First/second/third person plural/singular Subject + encouraged + object + remaining sentence |
| 2. Past Continuous Tense | a. First person singular subject + was+ encouraging + object + sentence end b. First person plural subject + were + encouraging + object + remaining sentence c. Second person plural/singular subject + were+ encouraging + object + rest of the sentence d. Third person singular subject + was + encouraging+ object + sentence end e. Third person plural subject + were + encouraging + object + end of the sentence |
| 3. Past Perfect Tense | First/second/third singular/plural subject + had + encouraged +object + end of sentence |
| 4. Past Perfect Continuous Tense | First/second/third plural/singular subject + had + been + encouraging + sentence end |
Examples of “encourage” in the past tense
| Examples | Explanations |
| I/We/You/he/They encouraged Shruthi to take up music as her career. | In the given example, ‘encouraged’ is the simple past tense of “encourage”. It marks the subject’s completed actions of supporting and motivating Shruthi to take up music as her career. |
| a. I was encouraging Piyansh until I knew he was serious about it. b. We were encouraging Piyansh until we knew he was serious about it. c. You were encouraging Piyansh until you knew he was serious about it. d. Yashi was encouraging Piyansh until she knew he was serious about it. e. The sisters were encouraging Piyansh until they knew he was serious about it. | ‘Was/were encouraging’ is the past continuous form of the verb “encourage” and it is utilized in the given example sentences to represent the subject’s past actions of supporting and assisting Piyansh that was continuing until the moment in the past when he was serious about it. |
| I/We/You/He/They had encouraged Varun to play basketball even before anybody did. | ‘Encouraged’, past participle of the verb form “encourage” is used along with ‘had’ to form ‘had encouraged’, the past perfect tense. The past perfect tense marks that the subject had already motivated and boosted Varun to play basketball even before anybody did. |
| I/We/You/She/ They had been encouraging in all the company’s new endeavors until the last one. | The verb “encourage” is used in its past perfect continuous tense, ‘had been encouraging’ to represent that the subject had been supporting and boosting the company in all its endeavors until the last one. |
“Encourage” in future tense
The future tense refers to activities that have not yet occurred and are yet to occur (any time after now). Here, we will learn the usage of “encourage” in all future tense forms.
The verb “encourage” in the future tense has different forms like ‘will/shall encourage,’ ‘will/shall have encouraged,’ ‘will/shall be encouraging,’ and ‘will/shall have been encouraging’.
Example: My friend, Mithali, will encourage me no matter what.
In the given example, the verb “encourage” is used in the simple future tense as ‘will encourage’ in order to show that the action of Mithali supporting and giving confidence to ‘me’ will happen or will take place in the future.
When is “encourage” used in the future tense?
The verb “encourage” in the future tense is utilized to denote the future actions of assisting, giving confidence and hope, supporting, motivating, making something happen, and persuading that will take place sometime after now.
Sentence formation of “encourage” in the future tense
| Forms of Future Tense | Structures |
| 1. Simple Future Tense | First/second/third plural/singular subject + will + encourage+ object + sentence end |
| 2. Future Continuous Tense | First/second/third plural/singular subject + will + be+ encouraging + object +last part of the sentence |
| 3. Future Perfect Tense | First/second/third singular/plural subject + will + have+ encouraged+ object + rest of the sentence |
| 4. Future Perfect Continuous Tense | First/second/third plural/singular subject + will + have+ been + encouraging + object + sentence end |
Examples of “encourage” in the future tense
| Examples | Explanations |
| I/We/You/She/They will encourage Riya to be an entrepreneur. | The simple future tense of the verb “encourage” is ‘will encourage’ and it is used here to show that the activities of the subject supporting and motivating Riya to be an entrepreneur have not yet taken place and will happen any time after this moment. |
| I/We/You/He/ They will be encouraging Suha tomorrow while she is playing the match. | ‘Will be encouraging’, the future continuous form of the base verb “encourage” marks that the subject’s actions of appreciating, assisting, and inspiring Suha will be happening tomorrow (the day after) while she is playing the match. |
| By this time, I/We/You/He/ They will have encouraged the company this time tomorrow to take such actions. | Usage of ‘will have encouraged’, the future perfect form of the base action word “encourage” reveals that the activity of persuading the company to take such actions by the subject will have taken place by this particular time (present) tomorrow (future). |
| I/We/You/She/He/They will have been encouraging young talents in the future. | The future perfect continuous tense of the action word (verb) “encourage” is ‘will have been encouraging’. Use of ‘will have been encouraging’ shows that the subject’s activities of supporting and motivating young talents is yet to happen and will be taking place in the future. |
Conclusion
Hence, through this article, we got a detailed understanding of the grammatical inflections that the verb “encourage” undergoes to represent the action’s tense.
Hi… I am Sowndharya Jagadeeswaran, a university rank holder in M.A. English Literature. I have also done my master’s in Business Administration. Inquisitive as I am, my interest in action-oriented research helped me publish research papers in reputed journals. Now, as a career, I am an instructor where I teach young and adorable students the intricate technicalities of Public Speaking and Creative Writing. I also enjoy writing articles on topics I specialize and research in.
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