The Instantaneous Present
These are events which coincide, or are presented as coinciding, with speech time and have no duration beyond speech time:
Speech act verbs which perform the act they name: I’ll be careful, I promise.
Exclamations with initial directional adverb: Off they go! (at the start of a race)
In you get! (helping someone to get in a car, etc.)
Commentaries: Jones passes and Beckham kicks the ball into the net.
Demonstrations: I place the fruit in the blender, press gently, and then pour out the liquid.
More characteristically, the Present is used to refer to situations which occupy a longer period of time than the moment of speaking, but which nonetheless include speech time. Traditionally these situations are classed according to the verb as stative uses and habitual uses of the Present.
