Present Simple
Present Simple Continuous
Present Perfect Simple
Present Perfect Continuous
Present tenses
Present Simple
Present Simple Continuous
Present Perfect Simple
Present Perfect Continuous
Present tenses
Past Simple
Past Simple Continuous
Past Perfect Simple
Past Perfect Continuous
Past tenses
Future Simple (= Future I Simple)
Future Continuous (= Future I Progressive)
Future Perfect (= Future II Simple)
Future Perfect Continuous (= Future II
Progressive)
Future tenses
All tenses have two forms:
simple
progressive (also called 'continuous').
The progressive form contains be + present
participle
Some verbs are not generally used in progressive forms. They are called
stative because they refer to states (e.g. experiences, conditions) rather
than to actions. In a sentence like:
She loves/loved her baby more than anything in the world loves (or loved)
describes a state over which the mother has no control: it is an involuntary
feeling. We could not use the progressive forms (is/was loving) here.
Stative verbs (state verbs) usually occur in the simple form in all tenses.
We can think of 'states' in categories like
1 Feelings: like love, feel, hope etc.
2 Thinking/believing: think, understand, remember, know etc.
3 Wants and preferences: prefer, want, etc.
4 Perception and the senses: hear, see, etc.
5 Being/seeming/having/owning: appear, seem, belong, own ,have etc.
Some verbs can be either stative or normal, depending on the context: I
think he is
clever / I am thinking about him.
Stative and dynamic verbs
Dynamic verbs, on the other hand, usually refer to actions which are
deliberate or voluntary (I'm making a cake) or they refer to changing
situations (He's growing old), that is, to activities, etc., which have a
beginning and an end. Dynamic verbs can be used in progressive as well
as simple forms.
progressive forms simple
forms
1. Dynamic verbs with progressive and simple forms:
I'm looking at you I often look at
you
I'm listening to music I often listen to
music
2. Verbs which are nearly always stative (simple forms only):
I see you
I hear music
3. Verbs that have dynamic or stative uses:
deliberate actions states
I'm weighing myself I weigh 65 kilos
I'm tasting the soup It tastes salty
I m feeling the radiator It feels hot
Sometimes verbs describing physical sensations can be used in simple or
progressive forms with hardly any change of meaning: Ooh! It hurts! =
Ooh' It's hurting.
Present Simple
Uses of the Present Simple tense:
Tense is used with adverbs or adverb phrases such as: always, often, sometimes,
occasionally,
usually, ever week, on Mondays, twice a year : How often do you wash your hair?
With the verb say when we are asking about or quoting from books, notices or very
recently received letters : (What does that notice say? It says, ,,No parking”.)
Permanent truths (Summer follows spring)
The present period (I wear glasses)
Habitual actions (My father smokes a lot)
We commonly use the simple present to ask and answer questions which begin with
How often:
(How often do you visit your grandmother? - I visit her every weekend)
Questions relating to habit can be asked with ever and answered with eg. never and
sometimes not ever (Do you ever drink coffee? – No, I never drink coffee.)
Future reference - this use is often related to timetables and programmes or to
events in the calendar (The exhibition opens on February 1
st
.)
Observations and declarations (I hope everything will be all right. / I bet she was
nervous before the exam. / I declare this exhibition open)
Headlines (FBI shoots a terrorist)
Instructions, itineraries and timetables (The train leaves in five minutes)
Summaries of events
In sentences after “when”, “while”, “before” etc. (When the rain stops, we will go
out).
Present Simple Continuous
Uses of the Present Simple Continuous tense:
Negative interrogative: (Am I not working? Are you not working?)
With a point in time to indicate an action which begins before this
point and probably continues after it: (At six I am bathing the
baby. [I start bathing him before six])
It is used in descriptions of daily routine and in dramatic narrative
Verbs not used in the continuous tenses: verbs of possession:
belong, owe, own, possess: (How much do I owe you?)
Think, assume, expect can be used in the continuous forms :
a) Think - when no opinion is given or asked for: (What are you
thinking about?/ What do you think?)
b) Assume – it means accept as a starting point : (I’m assuming that
you have time to do a lot of research. )
c) Assume – power/control of a country or organization can also be
used in the continuous : (The new government is assuming power
at once.)
d) Expect – it means await: (I’m expecting a letter.)
Actions in progress at the moment of speaking (I’m explaining you the uses of
Present Simple Continuous)
Temporary situations (We are studying at the Humanitas University)
Such situations may not be happening at the moment of speaking
-> Don't take that ladder away. Your father's using it! (but perhaps not at the
very moment)
Current trends [with verbs describing change and development] (People are
becoming less tolerant of smoking these days. / The weather is getting
worse)
Planned actions: future reference -> commonly associated with future arrival
and departure and occurs with verbs like arrive, come, go, leave, etc. to
describe travel arrangements. (He's arriving tomorrow morning on the
12:05 train)
Repeated actions -> the adverbs always (in the sense of 'frequently'),
constantly, continually, forever, perpetually and repeatedly can be used with
progressive forms to describe continually-repeated actions (She's always
helping people).
Some stative verbs can have progressive forms with always, etc. (I'm always
hearing strange stories about him)
Implied complaint -> refers to something that happens too often (Our burglar
alarm is forever going off for no reason)
Headlines (Cabinet minister resigning soon!)
Present Perfect
Simple
Uses of the Present Perfect Simple tense:
Recent events, without a definite time given. The recentness may be indicated by just. (I
have just seen a ghost! We have missed the train)
Indefinite events, which happened at an unknown time in the past. No definite time is given.
(Jim has had three car accidents [up to the present])
Indefinite events which may have an obvious result in the present. (I've twisted my ankle
[that's why I'm limping])
An incomplete period may be indicated by today, this morning, afternoon, evening, week,
month, year, century etc. (Have you seen him today? Yes, I have. )
But if we know that an action happens at a certain time or in a certain part of our
incomplete period we use the simple past tense. If my alarm clock normally goes off at six, I
might say at breakfast : (My alarm clock didn’t go off this morning. )
Imagine that the postman normally comes between nine and ten. From nine till ten we will
say: Has the postman come yet/this morning? But after this nine to ten period we will say :
Did the postman come this morning?
To express experience up to the present, often with adverb ever (My last birthday was the
worst I have ever had)
For negative forms we use never (Have you ever met John? Yes, but I have never seen his
wife)
With state verbs, a state which lasts up to the present (I've lived here for the past ten
years.)
The present perfect with 'since' and 'for (Judy hasn’t been home since she was a schoolgirl
/ I have lived in this house for twenty years [and I still live here])
Repeated and habitual actions - associated with frequency adverbs (often, frequently) and
expressions like three/four/several times (I've watched him on TV several times [and I
expect to again])
To list accomplishments (Man has walked on the Moon, Scientists have split the atom)
Present Perfect Continuous
Uses of the Present Perfect Continuous tense:
A habitual action in a period of time up to the present. (I've
been jogging every morning for the last month.)
A state which lasts up to the present moment (I have been
waiting for you for two hours!)
An incomplete activity (I've been reading this book all
day long but I still haven't finished)
To emphasise duration (I've been writing letters all
morning.)
A recently finished activity (I've been running. That's why
I look hot.)
A repeated activity (He has been taking English lessons
this year)
Present Perfect Continuous has the meaning of "lately" or
"recently." If we use it in a question such as "Have you
been feeling alright?", it can suggest that the person looks
sick or unhealthy. A question such as "Have you been
smoking?" can suggest that you smell the smoke on the
person. Using this tense in a question suggests you can
see, smell, hear or feel the results of the action.
Contrast between Present Perfect Simple
and Present Perfect Continuous
Some verbs (especially sit, lie, wait and stay)
prefer the continuous form.
There may be a contrast between completion
and incompletion, especially if the number of
items completed is mentioned:
Completed: emphasis on achievement: I've
ironed five shirts this morning.
Incomplete, or recently completed ->
emphasis on duration: I've been ironing my
shirts this morning.
Past Simple
Uses of the Past Simple tense:
Completed action (My sister phoned a minute ago)
Past habit (He smoked two packs of cigarettes every day till he
gave up)
The immediate past (Did the telephone ring?)
Is used when the action clearly took place at definite time even
though this time is not mentioned: The train was ten minutes
late.
Polite inquiries -> The simple past does not always refer to past
time. It can also be used for polite inquiries (particularly asking
for favours), often with verbs like hope, think or wonder (I
wondered if you could help me with it. / I hoped you could give
me a lift.)
To list a series of completed actions in the past. These actions
happen 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4
th
and so on (He arrived from the airport
at 8:00, checked into the hotel at 9:00, and met the others at
10:00)
Past Simple
Continuous
Uses of the Past Simple Continuous tense:
Actions in progress -often interrupted by events (I was drinking my morning
coffee when my sister phoned)
Background description in narrative (I entered the office and looked around.
Most people were working at their desks, but Jane was staring out of the
window and pretending to write something at the same time.)
Changing states (The computer was getting worse all the time. It was making
more and more funny noises).
Repeated actions – as criticism (When she was a child, she was always losing her
things) and to expresses the idea that something irritating or shocking often
happened in the past. The concept is very similar to the expression "used to" but
with negative emotion (She was always coming to class late)
Polite forms (usually with wonder) (I was wondering if you wanted to come to
the cinema)
Past continuous is not used to describe general habitual actions, without the
sense of criticism mentioned above. Past simple is used for this meaning (When I
lived in London, I walked through the park every day.)
Alternative to the simple past to indicate a more casual less deliberate action:
I was talking to Tom the other day.
( I talked to Tom – means that I took initiative)
USED TO/WOULD
Used - to express past habitual actions and permanent
states. (stative verbs are not used with would)
I used to smoke a lot.
Tom used to read crime stories.
He used to live in Paris.
Would express past repeated actions and routines – not
states.
When I was a child, I would go to the cinema every Sunday.
I would play basketball on Fridays
I would buy fresh milk every morning
Would is more common in written language!
Past Perfect Simple
Uses of the Past Perfect Simple tense:
Referring to an earlier past ('double past') (By the time we
got to the station, the train had left.)
Shows that something started in the past and continued up
until another action in the past (By the time he finished
studies, he had been in London for over eight years)
Unfulfilled hopes and wishes ( I had hoped to send him a
telegram to congratulate him on his marriage, but I didn't
manage it)
Equivalent of the simple past tense, is used when the
narrator or subject looks back on earlier action from a certain
point in the past : Tom was 23 when our story begins. His
father had died five years before and since then Tom had
lived alone.
Used with : as soon as, the moment, immediately. Till/until,
before after
After the will had been read there were angry exclamations.
Past Perfect
Continuous
Uses of the Past Perfect Continuous tense:
The same contrasts between past simple and past continuous can be
made in past perfect verb forms for events further back in the past: (I
had been living in a bed-sitter up to then / While I had been
talking on the phone, Jimmy had escaped.)
Action continuing over a period up to a specific time in the past: (She
had been saving for a whole year before she bought her ticket to
Australia. )
Past action of certain duration which had visible results in the past:
(He had been shouting so loudly that he had a sore throat.)
To show that something started in the past and continued up until
another time in the past. "For five minutes" and "for two weeks" are
both durations which can be used with the Past Perfect Continuous.
This is related to the Present Perfect Continuous; however, the
duration does not continue until now, it stops before something else in
the past (She had been reading for over an hour before Tony
arrived.)
Drawing conclusions (Her eyes were red, it was obvious she had been
crying)
Difference between a single action in the
simple past perfect and an action in the past
perfect continuous
By six o’clock he had repaired the engine. (completed)
He had been repairing the engine – we don’t know whether
or not the job was completed.
Future Simple
Uses of the Future Simple tense:
Predictive future, describes known facts, or what we suppose true (I will
be late home this evening)
Assumption, intention (That’ll be John at the door! [= I suppose it is
Jim] / It will rain tonight)
Immediate decision (I’ll take this one!) or voluntary action (I’ll send you
the information when I get it) and promises (I’ll call you when I arrive)
Formal style for scheduled events (The wedding will take place at St.
Andrew’s on June 14
th
)
Expressing hopes and expectations – usually with: assume, be afraid, be
sure, believe, doubt, expect, hope, suppose, think (I hope you will get
this job. / I’m afraid Mary won’t pass her exams.)
Will or Shall
Will is normally known as predictive future, describes known facts, or
what we suppose is true. (I’ll be late home this evening.)
Shall we use when there was no intention: (I shall see Tom tomorrow.
Perhaps we go to work on the same train).
Future Continuous
Uses of the Future Continuous tense:
Actions in progress in the future (Hurry up! The guests will
be arriving at any minute!)
Action in progress at a stated future time. (This time next
year she’ll be running her own business.)
Fixed arrangements and plans (We'll be spending the
winter in Australia)
Polite forms (Will you be going to the shop later? If you
go, could you get me some milk?)
The 'softening effect' of the future progressive ->
Sometimes the future progressive is used to describe
simple futurity, but with a 'softening effect' that takes away
the element of deliberate intention often implied by will:
-I'll work on this tomorrow, (intention, possibly a promise)
-I’ll be working on this tomorrow, (futurity)
Future Perfect
Uses of the Future Perfect tense:
The past as seen from the future (He will have retired by
the year 2020)
Shows that something will continue up until another action
in the future (I will have been in London for six months by
the time I leave)
Actions finished before a stated future time. (They will
have emigrated to Canada by Christmas.)
Used for an action which at a given future time will be in the
past or will just have finished.
Imagine, it’s 3 December and David is very worried about
an exam that he is taking on 13 December. Someone
planning a party might say: We’d better wait till 14
December. David will have his exam by then, so he’ll be
able to enjoy himself.
Refers to time which we look back at form a future point.
Future Perfect
Continuous
Uses of the Future Perfect Continuous tense:
The continuation of a state up to the time
mentioned (By this time next week I will have
been working for this company for 6 years)
Action is continuous:
-By the end of the month he will have been living
here for ten years.
-By the end of the month he will have been training
horses for twenty years.
But if we mention number of horses we must use
the future perfect:
-By the end of the month he will have trained 600
horses.
Other ways of expressing the future:
a) Be going to
Uses of be going to:
Prediction (Look at this tree! It’s going to fall! / She’s going to faint.)
Intentions, plans, etc. (I’m going to have a party this weekend. / I’m going to show you how to bake a
cake)
Place of the present progressive
(I'm having dinner with Janet tomorrow evening <-> I'm going to have dinner with Janet tomorrow
evening)
b) After "if -> We do not normally use will after if to make predictions, but we can use be going to to
express an intention (If you're going to join us, we'll wait for you)
c) Be to (I'm to see him tomorrow)
d) Be about to, be on the point of - both refer to the next moment. (I think the play is about to start
now. / Mary is on the point of resigning.)
e) Be due to - refers to scheduled times. (The play is due to start in five minutes. / Ann's flight is due at
6PM)
f) Just / just about - can be used to describe something on the point of happening. (Hurry up! The train is
just leaving/just about to leave.)
g) Hope - can be followed by either present or future verb forms. (I hope it doesn't rain. / I hope it won't
rain)
h) Other verbs followed by will -> Most verbs of thinking can be followed by will if there is future reference.
These include: think, believe, expect, doubt. (I expect the train will be late./ I doubt whether they will
come).