Tense
Rules of Tenses help one understand how to correctly use the different tenses in a
sentence, without making a grammatical mistake and also by easily indicating when an
event or action has occurred.
Aspirants who are willing to apply for the various Government exams 2023 must go
through these tenses rules carefully, as the English language is a part of the syllabus for
most of these exams.
Tenses can be divided into three parts:
1. Present Tense
2. Past Tense
3. Future Tense
Each of the three above mentioned tenses can further be divided into subparts. These
subparts include:
Simple
Continuous
Perfect
Perfect Continuous
In this article, we shall discuss in detail the tenses rules for the above-mentioned types
of verb tenses, followed by examples to explain them clearly.
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 Girls (plural) and no
Here the subject is Girl (singular) and “s” changes have been made with V1 (first
has been added to the verb (sing),
followed by the object (song) form of verb) and 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, “They” is the subject + have
Here, “He” is the subject + has
“Cleaned” is the third form of verb and
“Cleaned” is the third form of verb and utensils is the object
utensils 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 “They” is the subject + have been,
Here “She” is the subject + has been, followed by “ing” added to the the first form of
followed by “ing” added to the the first form verb “practise” and then the object
of verb “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. Raj speaks German (Simple Present for Singular)
2. They speak German (Simple Present for Plural)
3. She is speaking German (Present Continuous)
4. He has learnt German (Present Perfect for Singular)
5. They have learnt German (Present Perfect for Plural)
6. She has been learning German (Present Perfect Continuous for Singular)
7. 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 “They” + were
Here, the subject is “She” + was
Followed by the first form of verb (V1) “go” +
It is 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
