The Grammaring Guide to English Grammar with Exercises

Present simple to express past

Headlines

In news headlines, the present simple tense refers to past time:

WAR CRIMINAL

ESCAPES

FROM COURTROOM

(A war criminal has escaped from a courtroom.)

REAL MADRID

WINS AGAINST

MANCHESTER UNITED

(Real Madrid won against Manchester United yesterday.)

Historical present

The present simple tense is used in narratives for purposes of dramatization to express past events. This use of the present simple is called the historical present.

Summaries of historical events: 1945: the war in Europe comes to an end.

Jokes: Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson go camping. In the morning, as they are lying in their sleeping bags, Holmes says, 'Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you deduce.' So Watson says, 'Well, the sky is salmon pink, so we're going to have a clear day. The moon is just setting, so it must be about 5 am. There are no clouds, so it probably won't rain.' Holmes bursts out, 'Watson, you idiot! Someone has stolen our tent.'

Plot summaries (real stories, books, films etc.): So I walk into this shop, and I see this man with a gun in his hand. And like... everybody's looking at him. Then he says...At the end of the story, Luke becomes a Jedi and defeats Darth Vader.

In such narratives, we use the present simple for main events and the present continuous for background events.