2.13 Tenses

Tenses

The concept of time can be split into:

1. The Present - What you are currently doing.   

I eat, I am eating                                  

2. The Past - What you did some time back.  

I ate, I was eating

3. The Future - What you will do later.  

I will eat, I will be eating                                             

In the English language, tenses play an important role in sentence formation. 

The tense of a verb shows the time of an event or action.

There are four types of tenses. Simple, Perfect, Continuous and Present Perfect Continuous and each of these has a present, past and future form.    

PRESENT TENSES

SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

In Simple Present, the action is simply mentioned and there is nothing being said about its completeness.

I eat.
I sleep.
I play.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE

In Present Continuous, the action is on-going/ still going on and hence continuous.

I am eating.
I am sleeping.

I am playing.     

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

In Present Perfect, the action is complete or has ended and hence termed Perfect.

I have eaten.
I have slept.
I have played.

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

In Present Perfect Continuous, the action has been taking place for some time and is still ongoing.

I have been eating.
I have been sleeping.
I have been playing.

PAST TENSES

SIMPLE PAST TENSE

In Simple Past, the action is simply mentioned and understood to have taken place in the past.

I ate.
I slept.
I played.

PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

In Past Continuous, the action was ongoing till a certain time in the past.

I was eating.
I was sleeping.
I was playing.

PAST PERFECT TENSE

Past Perfect is used to express something that happened before another action in the past.

I had eaten.
I had slept.
I had played.

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

Past Perfect Continuous is used to express something that started in the past and continued until another time in the past.

I had been eating.
I had been sleeping.
I had been playing.

FUTURE TENSES

SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE

Simple Future is used when we plan or make a decision to do something. Nothing is said about the time in the future.

I will eat.
I will sleep.
I will play.

FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE

The future continuous tense is used to express action at a particular moment in the future. However, the action will not have finished at the moment.

I will be eating at 9 a.m.
I will be sleeping when you arrive.
I will be playing at 5 p.m.
  

FUTURE PERFECT TENSE

Future Perfect expresses action that will occur in the future before another action in the future.

I will have eaten before 10 a.m.
I will have slept before you arrive.
I will have played before 6 p.m.

FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

Future Perfect Continuous is used to talk about an on-going action before some point in the future.

I will have been sleeping for two hours when you arrive.
I will have been playing for an hour when it is 5 p.m.

Grammar Exercises - Mixed Tenses Exercises

Put the verbs into the correct tense (simple present or present progressive)

1. Look! Sara (go)  to the movies.
2. On her right hand, Sara (carry)  her handbag.
3. The handbag (be)  very beautiful.
4. Sara usually (put)  on black shoes but now she (wear)  white trainers.
5. And look, she (take)  an umbrella because it (rain)   

Put the verbs into the correct tense (simple past or past perfect)

1. When he (wake up)  , his mother (already /prepare)  breakfast
2. We (go)  to London because our friends (invite)  us
3. He (hear)  the news, (go)  to the telephone and (call)  a friend.
4. When she (start)  learning English she (already /learn)  French.
5. Jane (already / type)  three pages when her computer (crash)  .

Put the verbs into the correct tense (simple past or present perfect).

1. I (just / finish)  my homework.
2. Mary (already / write)  five letters.
3. Tom (move)  to his home town in 1994.
4. My friend (be)  in Canada two years ago.
5. I (not / be)  to Canada so far.

Put the verbs into the correct tense (Simple Past or Past Progressive).

1. The receptionist (welcome)  the guests and (ask)  them to fill in the form
2. The car (break)  down and we (have)  to walk home.
3. The boys (swim)  while the girls (sunbath)  .
4. My father (come)  in, (look)  and (tell)  me to tidy up my room.
5. While one group (prepare)  dinner the others (collect)  wood for the campfire.

Put the verbs into the correct tense (simple future or future perfect)

1. Tomorrow I think I (start)   my new project.
2. I (finish)  it by the end of this month.
3. The teacher (probably/assign)  a test to his students next Monday.
4. He (correct)  it by the end of next week.
5. My friend (certainly/get)  a good mark.

Answer

Put the verbs into the correct tense (simple present or present progressive)

1. Look! Sara (go) is going to the movies.
2. On her right hand, Sara (carry) is carrying her handbag.
3. The handbag (be) is very beautiful.
4. Sara usually (put) puts on black shoes but now she (wear) is wearing white trainers.
5. And look, she (take) is taking an umbrella because it (rain) is raining

Put the verbs into the correct tense (simple past or past perfect)

1. When he (wake up) woke up , his mother (already /prepare) had already prepared breakfast
2. We (go) went to London because our friends (invite) had invited us
3. He (hear) heard the news, (go) went to the telephone and (call) called a friend.
4. When she (start) started learning English she (already /learn) had already learned French.
5. Jane (already / type) had already typed three pages when her computer (crash) crashed .

Put the verbs into the correct tense (simple past or present perfect).

1. I (just / finish) have just finished my homework.
2. Mary (already / write) has already written five letters.
3. Tom (move) moved to his home town in 1994.
4. My friend (be) was in Canada two years ago.
5. I (not / be) have not been to Canada so far.

Put the verbs into the correct tense (Simple Past or Past Progressive).

1. The receptionist (welcome) welcomed the guests and (ask) asked them to fill in the form
2. The car (break) broke down and we (have) had to walk home.
3. The boys (swim) were swimming while the girls (sunbath) were sunbathing .
4. My father (come) came in, (look) looked and (tell) told me to tidy up my room.
5. While one group (prepare) was preparing dinner the others (collect) were collecting wood for the campfire.

Put the verbs into the correct tense (simple future or future perfect)

1. Tomorrow I think I (start) will start my new project.
2. I (finish) will have finished it by the end of this month.
3. The teacher (probably/assign) will probably assign  a test to his students next Monday.
4. He (correct) will have corrected  it by the end of next week.
5. My friend (certainly/get) will certainly get  a good mark.