Tenses
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Understanding and mastering English tenses can greatly improve your writing and speaking skills.
Here’s a guide to the main tenses, including tricks, structure, and formulas.
Present Tense
Present Tense can be defined as an expression for an activity that is currently in action or is
habitually performed. It is used for a state that generally exists or is currently ongoing.
• Simple Present
Simple Present Tense
Singular Plural
Rule: Subject + V1 + s/es + Object Rule: Subject + V1 + Object
Example: The girl sings a song Example: The girls sing a song
Here the subject is Girl (singular) and “s” has Here the subject is Girls (plural) and no changes
been added to the verb (sing), followed by the have been made with V1 (first form of verb) and
object (song) the object
• Present Continuous
Present Continuous Tense
Rule: Subject + is/am/are + V1 + ing + object
Example: She is eating food
Here the subject is She, followed by “is”
The first form of verb (V1) here is “eat” and “ing” has been added to it, followed by the object
“food”
• Present Perfect
Present Perfect Tense
Singular Plural
Rule: Subject + has + V3 + Object Rule: Subject + have + V3 + Object
Example: He has cleaned the utensils Example: They have cleaned the utensils
Here, “He” is the subject + has Here, “They” is the subject + have
“Cleaned” is the third form of verb and utensils “Cleaned” is the third form of verb and utensils
is the object is the object
• Present Perfect Continuous Tense
Present Perfect Continuous Tense
Singular Plural
Rule: Subject + has been + V1 + ing + Object Rule: Subject + have been + V1 + ing + Object
Example: She has been practising since Example: They have been practising since
morning morning
Here “She” is the subject + has been, followed Here “They” is the subject + have been, followed
by “ing” added to the the first form of verb by “ing” added to the the first form of verb
“practise” and then the object “practise” and then the object
Given below are a few examples that may help you differentiate between the four sub parts of
present tense easily:
1. They speak German (Simple Present for Plural)
2. She is speaking German (Present Continuous)
3. He has learnt German (Present Perfect for Singular)
4. They have learnt German (Present Perfect for Plural)
5. She has been learning German (Present Perfect Continuous for Singular)
6. They have been learning German (Present Perfect Continuous for Plural)
Past Tense
Any event or action that took place in the past can be referred to as the past tense. Below we have
discussed in detail the four sub parts of past tense in English grammar.
• Simple Past
Simple Past Tense
Rule: Subject + V2 + Object
For example: He ran away
Here, the subject is “He” and “ran” is the second form of verb (V2) of “run” followed by the object
• Past Continuous
Past Continuous Tense
Singular Plural
Rule: Subject + was + V1 + ing + Object Rule: Subject + were + V1 + ing + Object
For example: She was going shopping For example: They were going shopping
Here, the subject is “She” + was Here, the subject is “They” + were
It is followed by the first form of verb (V1) “go” Followed by the first form of verb (V1) “go” +
+ “ing” and then the object “shopping” “ing” and then the object “shopping”
• Past Perfect
Past Perfect Tense
Rule: Subject + had + V3 + Object
For example: Sumit had left the job
Here the subject is “Sumit” + had
Then “left”, which is the third form of verb (V3) “leave” is given followed by the object
• Past Perfect Continuous
Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Rule: Subject + had been + V1 + ing + Object
For example: They had been preparing for their performance for two months
Here the subject is “They” + had been
It is followed by “preparing”, which is the first form of verb (V1) of “prepare” and then the object
To help you understand past tense and its form even better, given below are a few examples to
simply the concept:
1. I played football yesterday (Simple Past)
2. I was playing football yesterday (Past Continuous for Singular)
3. They were playing football yesterday (Past Continuous for Plural)
4. They had played football yesterday (Past Perfect)
5. They had been playing football the entire yesterday (Past Perfect Continuous)
Future Tense
The actions that are to take place in the future fall in the category of the future tense. We have
discussed the subparts of the future tense in detail further below in the article, followed by the
examples for the same.
• Simple Future
Simple Future Tense
Rule: Subject + will/shall + V1 + Object
For Example: I will visit my Uncle tomorrow
Here, the subject is “I” + will
It is followed by the first form of verb (V1) “visit” and then the object
• Future Continuous
Future Continuous Tense
Rule: Subject + will be/shall be + V1 + ing + Object
For Example: I shall be going to the market tomorrow
In this example, the subject is “I” + shall be
Following it is the first form of verb (V1) “go”+ing and then the object
• Future Perfect
Future Perfect Tense
Rule: Subject + will have/shall have + V3 + Object
For Example: I shall have prepared the notes by tomorrow morning
In this example, the subject is “I” + shall have
It is followed by “prepared”, which is the third form of Verb (V3) “prepare” and then the object
• Future Perfect Continuous
Future Perfect Continuous Tense
Rule: Subject + will have been + V1 + ing + Object
For Example: She will have been working here since 2015
Here, the subject is “She” + will have been
It is followed by the first form of verb “work”+ing and then the object
Given below are a few examples that may help you clarify the future tense concept clearly:
1. She will go to school tomorrow (Simple Future)
2. She will be going to school tomorrow (Future Continuous)
3. She will have gone to school tomorrow (Future Perfect)
4. She will have been going to school tomorrow (Future Perfect Continuous)
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