For example, the sentence "I read a book yesterday" is in the past tense because the action of reading the book happened in the past. The sentence "I am reading a book now" is in the present tense because the action of reading the book is happening now. The sentence "I read books every day" is also in the present tense because the action of reading books is a habitual action that happens every day.
Here is a table summarizing the difference between the past tense read and the present tense read:
| Tense | Example |
|---|---|
| Past tense | I read a book yesterday |
| Present tense | I am reading a book now |
| Present tense (habitual) | I read books every day |