TENSES

ENGLISH GRAMMAR
TENSE MEANS TIME____

PRESENT TIME

PAST TIME

FUTURE TIME
 Present Continuous
mple Present Present Perfect
Present Perfect
I have played. Continuous
I am playing.
I play. I have been
playing
for two hours.

Past Continuous Past Perfect Past Perfect

Simple Past
I played. I had played. Continuous
I was playing.
I had been playing
when you came.

mple Future Future Perfect

Future Continuous Future Perfect
I will have Continuous
ll play. I will be playing.
played. I will have been
playing
for two hours at
2 o’clock.
 There are The Present
three The Past
Main tenses The Future

EACH TENSE HAS FOUR FORMS

SIMPLE: Present, Past, Future
q

CONTINUOUS: Present, Past, Future

q

PERFECT: Present, Past, Future

q

PERFECT CONTINUOUS: Present, Past, Future

q
 USES

SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE Repeated Actions

q

Present Form Of verb

OR Habitual Actions
q

Present Form Of Verb

+ Universal Truth
q

‘s’ or ‘es’
A Future Action
q

Examples: 5. Honesty is the

best policy.
1.I drink tea daily. 6. Our school re-
2. She drinks tea daily. opens in July.
3. I sing well. 7. Ram doesn’t go to
4. She sings well. school .
8. I don’t like to read
Simple Past Tense Simple Future
Tense
Past Form Of Verb
Will + Present form of the
Uses: Verb
PAST ACTION Uses:
NARRATION OF STORIES
DESCRIPTION OF SERIES OF
PAST EVENTS
o
FUTURE ACTIONS
Examples: Examples:
1. I / She received your 1.She will receive
letter yesterday. your letter tomorrow.

2. It rained last week. 2.It looks like it

will rain tomorrow.
3. She watched her brother
being awarded. 3.She will watch her
brother being awarded.
 FUTURE
PRESENT CONTINUOUS PAST CONTINUOUS CONTINUOUS
TENSE TENSE TENSE
Is, am, are + Present Was, were + Present Will be +Present
Participle Participle Participle

Uses: Uses: Uses:

To describe an action that To describe an action To describe an
: that action:

Is happening at the
v
Was going on at a
v
vThat will be in
moment of speaking. point of time, When progress at a
another action took given point of time
Going on over a period
v
place. in
of time. the future.
Examples:
1. It was raining at this Examples:
Examples: time
1. It is raining. yesterday. 1.This time
tomorrow, I
2. She is watching her 2. She was watching shall be flying
brother her brother play over London.
play. when the thieves
entered the house. 2. I won’t be going
3. My sister is singing for the
PRESENT PERFECT PAST PERFECT FUTURE PERFECT
TENSE TENSE TENSE

has/ have +Past Had + Past Will/ shall have +

Participle Participle Past
Participle
Uses: Uses:
To describe an action: To describe an Uses:
vWhich has been action that To describe an
completed had already taken action that
or done just now, near place in will be completed by
the the past before some point of time
present time. another action took in the
vAn action that has place In the past. future.
taken place
In the past, but the Examples:
action has Examples:
Its effect In the present. 1. When I reached
vAn action that began in the station, the 1.He will have left
the past, train had left. before
and is continuing in the you reach.
present. 2. They had already
pulled down the 2. They will have
PRESENT PERFECT PAST PERFECT FUTURE
CONTINUOUS CONTINUOUS PERFECT
CONTINUOUS
Has been/ have been Had been
+ + Will have been
Present Participle Present Participle
+
Use: Use: Present Participle
To describe an
action To describe an Use:
which began in the action
past but that To describe an
Is still continuing in began in the past action
the and That will be in
present. continued in the progress even after
past for a
sometime. given point of time.
Examples:
Examples: Examples:
1. He has been
sleeping for five 1.When I visited 1. By next
hours. him, he December,
had been teaching We will have been
 PRESENT PRESENT CONTINUOUS

SIMPLE TENSE
PRESENT
I AM READING.
YOU/WE/THEY ARE
I/WE/THEY/YOU
READING.
READ.
SHE/HE/IT IS
SHE/HE/IT READS.
READING.
PRESENT PERFECT PRESENT PERFECT
CONTINUOUS
I/ WE/ THEY/YOU
I/WE/THEY/YOU HAVE BEEN
HAVE READ. READING +TIME.
SHE/HE /IT HAS SHE/HE/IT HAS
READ. BEEN READING
 PAST PAST
CONTINUOUS
SIMPLE TENSE
PAST
I/SHE/HE/IT WAS
I/WE/THEY/YOU/ READING.
SHE/HE/IT YOU/WE/THEY
PAST
READ. PAST
WEREPERFECT
READING.
PERFECT CONTINUOUS

I/HE/SHE/YOU/W
E/THEY I/WE/SHE/HE/THEY/YOU
HAD READ THE HAD BEEN READING THE
BOOK WHEN
BOOK LAST
THE TEACHER WENT INTO
WEEK. THE CLASSROOM.
 FUTURE TENSE
FUTURE
SIMPLE FUTURE
CONTINUOUS
I/WE/YOU/SHE/HE/
THEY I/WE/YOU/THEY/HE/SH
WILL READ THE E
FUTURE
BOOK WILL BE READING
TOMORROW. THEPERFECT
BOOK SOON.
FUTURE CONTINUOUS
PERFECT
I/WE/YOU/SHE/HE/T
I/WE/YOU/SHE/HE HEY WILL HAVE
/THEY WILL HAVE BEEN READING
READ THE BOOK THE BOOK FOR
BY NEXT WEEK. FIVE DAYS ON
 COMMON MISTAKES IN TENSES
1.It is raining since yesterday. X
It has been raining since
yesterday.

2. I reached the station before the train had arrived. X

I had reached the station before the train
arrived.
3. Yesterday we had seen the panther. X
Yesterday we saw the panther.

4. I had been playing a match.

I had been playing a match yesterday,

so couldn’t go out with my friends.
MADE BY :

AJIT SINGH
ENGLISH
TRAINER