Basic Details
Word: Tense
Part of Speech: Adjective; noun
Meaning: As an adjective, nervous and unable to relax, or stretched tight. As a noun, the form of a verb that shows time: past, present or future.
Synonyms: nervous, anxious, tight
Antonyms: relaxed, calm, loose
Sounds like: tents (shelters made of cloth)
How to Spell Tense
Syllables: tense
Tricky part: The ending is se, not ce, even though it sounds like the end of sentence. Tence and tens are the usual errors.
Watch out for: tence, tennse, tenss
Memory tip: Tense, sense and dense all end in nse. A tense moment makes every sense sharp.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The last over of the match was so tense that nobody could sit still.
Example 2: Change the verbs in this paragraph to the past tense.
Example 3: My shoulders get tense when I sit at the desk too long.
Fun Fact
The grammar sense of tense comes from Old French tens, time, from Latin tempus; the nervous sense comes from a different Latin word, tensus, stretched.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word 'tense' as used in the sentence:
The waiting room grew tense as the doctor walked in with the reports.
a) nervous
b) relaxed
c) anxious
d) strained
Show answer
b) relaxed. Anxious, nervous and strained say the same as tense; relaxed is the opposite feeling.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence and choose the word they make:
Ran is the past nseet of run.
a) terse
b) dense
c) tense
d) tease
Show answer
c) tense. Dense needs a d, terse an r and tease an a; only tense uses n, s, two e's and a t.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Before the results were announced, the whole class sat in tence silence, staring at the noticeboard and hoping their names would appear among the top ten.
a) silence
b) noticeboard
c) announced
d) tence
Show answer
d) tence. Silence ends in ce, but this word ends in se, like sense.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which sentence is in the future tense?
a) We visit Jaipur every year.
b) We are visiting Jaipur now.
c) We will visit Jaipur next week.
d) We visited Jaipur last week.
Show answer
c) We will visit Jaipur next week.
2. A tense muscle is ____.
a) loose and soft
b) tight and stiff
c) very strong
d) broken
Show answer
b) tight and stiff
