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Grammar

Table of English Tenses

tense	Affirmative/Negative/Question	Use	Signal Words
Simple Present	A: He speaks. N: He does not speak. Q: Does he speak?	action in the present taking place once, never or several times facts actions taking place one after another action set by a timetable or schedule	always, every …, never, normally, often, seldom, sometimes, usually if sentences type I (If I talk, …)
Present Progressive	A: He is speaking. N: He is not speaking. Q: Is he speaking?	action taking place in the moment of speaking action taking place only for a limited period of time action arranged for the future	at the moment, just, just now, Listen!, Look!, now, right now
Simple Past	A: He spoke. N: He did not speak. Q: Did he speak?	action in the past taking place once, never or several times actions taking place one after another action taking place in the middle of another action	yesterday, 2 minutes ago, in 1990, the other day, last Friday if sentence type II (If I talked, …)
Past Progressive	A: He was speaking. N: He was not speaking. Q: Was he speaking?	action going on at a certain time in the past actions taking place at the same time action in the past that is interrupted by another action	when, while, as long as
Present Perfect Simple	A: He has spoken. N: He has not spoken. Q: Has he spoken?	putting emphasis on the result action that is still going on action that stopped recently finished action that has an influence on the present action that has taken place once, never or several times before the moment of speaking	already, ever, just, never, not yet, so far, till now, up to now
Present Perfect Progressive	A: He has been speaking. N: He has not been speaking. Q: Has he been speaking?	putting emphasis on the course or duration (not the result) action that recently stopped or is still going on finished action that influenced the present	all day, for 4 years, since 1993, how long?, the whole week
Past Perfect Simple	A: He had spoken. N: He had not spoken. Q: Had he spoken?	action taking place before a certain time in the past sometimes interchangeable with past perfect progressive putting emphasis only on the fact (not the duration)	already, just, never, not yet, once, until that day if sentence type III (If I had talked, …)
Past Perfect Progressive	A: He had been speaking. N: He had not been speaking. Q: Had he been speaking?	action taking place before a certain time in the past sometimes interchangeable with past perfect simple putting emphasis on the duration or course of an action	for, since, the whole day, all day
Future I Simple	A: He will speak. N: He will not speak. Q: Will he speak?	action in the future that cannot be influenced spontaneous decision assumption with regard to the future	in a year, next …, tomorrow If-Satz Typ I (If you ask her, she will help* you.) assumption*: I think, probably, perhaps
Future I Simple (going to)	A: He is going to speak. N: He is not going to speak. Q: Is he going to speak?	decision made for the future conclusion with regard to the future	in one year, next week, tomorrow
Future I Progressive	A: He will be speaking. N: He will not be speaking. Q: Will he be speaking?	action that is going on at a certain time in the future action that is sure to happen in the near future	in one year, next week, tomorrow
Future II Simple	A: He will have spoken. N: He will not have spoken. Q: Will he have spoken?	action that will be finished at a certain time in the future	by Monday, in a week
Future II Progressive	A: He will have been speaking. N: He will not have been speaking. Q: Will he have been speaking?	action taking place before a certain time in the future putting emphasis on the course of an action	for …, the last couple of hours, all day long
Conditional I Simple	A: He would speak. N: He would not speak. Q: Would he speak?	action that might take place	if sentences type II (If I were you, I would go* home*.)
Conditional I Progressive	A: He would be speaking. N: He would not be speaking. Q: Would he be speaking?	action that might take place putting emphasis on the course / duration of the action
Conditional II Simple	A: He would have spoken. N: He would not have spoken. Q: Would he have spoken?	action that might have taken place in the past	if sentences type III (If I had seen that, I would have helped.)
Conditional II Progressive	A: He would have been speaking. N: He would not have been speaking. Q: Would he have been speaking?	action that might have taken place in the past puts emphasis on the course / duration of the action

KINDS OF TENSES

There are 12 Tenses in English. They are as follows :

SIMPLE

Simple Present Tense.
Simple Past Tense.
Simple Future Tense.

CONTINUOUS

Present Continuous Tense.
Past Continuous Tense.
Future Continuous Tense.

PERFECT

Present Perfect Tense.
Past Perfect Tense
Future Prefect Tense.

PERFECT CONTINUE

Present Perfect Continuous Tense
Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Future Perfect Continuous Tense

1. Simple Present Tense

a) Almost all sentences that make use of one of the following words or phrases take this tense: usually, generally, regularly, often, daily, everyday, (morning, evening), now-a-day, seldom, rarely, always, nearly, frequently, hardly ever, scarcely ever, once a week etc.

b) Do not use Future Tense after the following adverbs of time and some expressions, but Simple Present Tense can be used to express the Future action: if, unless, until, till, as, as soon as, when, shile, after, before, as long as etc.
» When he arrives, the band will play the National Anthem.
» What shall I do if it rains?
» Until you learn to obey you will not know how to command.
» Unless you work hard, you will not succeed.

c) It is used to describe Universal Truth and Proverbs.
» The Sun rises in the East.
» Health is wealth.
» Salt dissolves in water.
» Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

2. Simple Past Tense

I watch television every evening. (Present Simple)
I wathed television yesterday evening. (Past Simple)
Watched is the past simple.

Noun / Subject	Past Tense Verb
I / We / You / They / He / She / It / Antony	watched

a) The following are the adverbs of time showing this tense: yesterday, last year, a few minutes ago, in 1982, once etc.

Last week I bought a pen.
Yesterday my father came.
Kamal met his friend a few days ago.
Anna died in 1969.

b) Simple Past Tense is used in Conditional Sentences:

If I met your father, I would tell the news.
If he had money, he would help me.
If she worked hard, she would come off with flying colours.

c) Past Tense can be used after the following expressions: as if, as through, it is time, wish, would rather, would sooner etc.

Kamal talks as if he knew all things.
John behaved as though he owned the house.
I wish I knew. (I‘m sorry that I do not know)
I would rather he went.

3. Simple Future Tense

a) The words showing the future tense are: tomorrow, next week (year, month), later, soon, shortly, in a little time, in this years to come etc.

Subject	Auxiliary Verb	Present Verb
I / We	shall	Go
You / He / She / It/ They	will	Go

I shall arrive tomorrow.
Go on now and I shall follow you later.
She will probably send her application next week.

4. Present Continuous tense
This tense can be used to describe the actions that are incomplete, still going on at the moment of speaking or writing.

Subject	Auxiliary Verb	Present Verb + ing	Person
I	Am	going	First Person Singular
He / She / It	Is	going	Third Person Singular
We / You / They	Are	going	Plural

a) The following are the important adverbs of time showing Present Continuous Tense: now, always, at present, at this moment, all the time, continuously, continually etc.

She is always talking in the class.
I’m reading a novel at present.
They are going to church now.

5. Past Continuous tense

Now it is 7 O’clock Kapil is at home.
He is watching television.
At 4 O’clock he wasn’t at home.
He was at the sports club.
He was playing tennis.
He wasn’t watching television.

3.00	3.30	4.00	4.15	4.30
He began playing	He was playing			He stopped playing

a) This tense is used to express an action that was going on when another action happened.
Adverbs of time while, when

Subject	Auxiliary Verb	Present Verb + ing	Person
I	was	going	First Person Singular
He / She / It	was	going	Third Person Singular
We / You / They	were	going	Plural

While she was writing, the phone rang.
While she was crossing the bridge, she met with an accident.
When he was sleeping, his friend came.

6. Future Continuous Tense
a) This tense is used to indicate a future activity that will begin before a point of time in future and continue after it.

Subject	Auxiliary Verb	Present Verb + ing	Person
I / We	shall be	Going	First Person
You / He / She / It / They	will be	Going	Second / Third Person

She will be singing songs then.
They will be holding a meeting at 5 p.m. tomorrow.
When will you be putting on another performance?

b) This tense can be used when an action starts before the time mentioned and will probably continue after it.

He’ll be finishing his work tomorrow by this time.
She’ll be travelling to England by the end of next week

7. Present Perfect Tense
This tense is used to describe a past event the effect of which is not in the past but in the present.

Subject	Auxiliary Verb	Past Participle Verb
I / We / You / They / any Plural	have	Gone
He / She / It / any Singular	has	Gone

His shoes are dirty

He is cleaning his shoes

He has cleaned his shoes

a) It is used to describe an action which was completed in the very recent past just a while ago.

George has just gone out.
I have finished my supper.

b) The following adverbs of time take the Present Perfect Tense: already, just now, ever, never, today, recently, so far, up to now, upto the moment, yet, lately, during the last week, during the last few days, this morning year, month, for a long time since monday, since 1947 etc.

I have never seen anyone like her.
He hasn’t eaten anything since Monday.
I have posted a letter this morning.
Sheela has been ill since last Friday.

8. Past Perfect Tense

Sarah went to a party last week. Paul went to the party too but they didn’t see each other. Paul went home at 10:30 and Sarah arrived at 11 O’clock So:

When Sarah arrived at the party. Paul wasn’t there. He had gone home.
Had gone is the past perfect. (Simple)

a) This tense is used whenever we wish to say that some action had been completed before another was commenced. That is, when there are two past actions, we use the Past Perfect to refer to the earlier action.

Adverbs of time: when, after before, as soon as

Subject	Auxiliary Verb	Past Participle Verb
I / We / You / They / any Plural / He / She / It / any Singular	Had	gone

I had reached the station before the train left.
When I met him, John had lived in England for two years.
He went home after he had finished his work.

b) This tense can be used in the conditional sentences.

If I had met you, I would have told the news.
If Anand had had money, he would have helped me

9. Future Perfect Tense:
a) It is used to indicte that certain action will be completed into future time. The following are the adverbs of time: by the end of nex week (year, month), tomorrow, by this time, by 1980, by noon, by tomorrow evening (morning), by June etc.

Subject	Auxiliary Verb	Past Participle Verb
I / We	shall have	Finished
You / He / She / It / They	will have	Finished

I shall have finished this work by the end of next week.
He will have learnt to swim next month.

10. Present Perfect Continuous Tense
a) This tense is used to refer to an action which began indefinitely in the Past and is still continuing at the present moment.

Subject	Auxiliary Verb	Present Participle Verb
I / We / You / They / any Plural	have been	finishing
He / She / It / any Singular	has been	finishing

It has been raining for two hours

The following adverbs of time taken this tense: since then, since 1947, all the years, since two years, for two years, since early in the morning etc.

My uncle has been living in England since 1990.
We have been learning English for three years.
It has been raining since early in the morning.

Note:
“for” refers to a period of time.
“Since” refers to a definite point of time.

11. Past Perfect Continuous Tense:
This tense is used in the reported speech or indirect speech.

Subject	Auxiliary Verb	Present Participle Verb
I / We / You / They / any Plural / He / She / It / any Singular	had been	working

He had been working hard since early in the morning.
He said that he had been studying his lessons for three hours.

Subject	Auxiliary Verb	Present Participle Verb	Person
I / We	shall have been	Going	First Person
You / He / She / It / They	will have been	Going	Second / Third Person

12. Future Perfect Continuous Tense:
This tense indicates an action represented as being in progress over a period of time that will end in the future.

By next December we shall have been living here for five years.
When she gets her degree, she will have been studying at London.

Tense forms in Conditional Clauses

Uses of tenses in conditional clauses:

First Conditional (Probable)

Condition	Result
If, unless + Present tense form 1. If you practise regularly. 2. Unless you work hard.	Future tense form [will, shall, may, might, can] you will improve your bowling, you’ll not make it.

Second Conditional (Improbable)

Condition	Result
If + Past simple / continuous 1. If they won the match. 2. If you were really concentrating.	would, could I would be very happy you would not be disturbed by the noise.

Third Conditional (Impossible)

Condition	Result
If + Past Perfect 1. If India had won. 2. If she had fallen.	would / should / could / might + have + pp it would have gone up in ranking. would / should / could / might + have been + pp she would have been hurt seriously.

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