TENSE REVIEW
PRESENT SIMPLE & CONTINUOUS PAST SIMPLE & CONTINUOUS PRESENT & PAST PERFECT
Eduardo Arcas Tense Revision
PRESENT SIMPLE It is used to express habits, facts that are always true
or that stay the same for a long time. > Ex. I go to school every day / Some birds fly south in winter / He works in a bank
Adverbs of frequency (never, rarely, often, usually,
hardly ever…) go before the main verb (not to be) Be careful with verbs such as to be, to have or modal POSITIVE NEGATIVE QUESTION verbs
Eduardo Arcas Tense Revision
I/ you / we / they play football
I/… don’t play football
Do I/… play football?
He / she / (it) plays football
He/… doesn’t play football
Does he/… play football?
PRESENT SIMPLE II: spelling
Most verbs: add –s to infinitive
Work works
Verbs ending in consonant + y: change y to i and add –es
Cry cries Reply replies
Verbs ending in –s, -z, -ch, -sh or –x: add –es to infinitive
Miss misses Fix fixes
Exceptions
Have has Go goes Do does
Eduardo Arcas Tense Revision
PRESENT CONTINUOUS
It is used to express activities that are happening
now or which are true now even if they are not really happening at the moment of speaking. See THE FUTURE for more uses.
Ex. My mother is cooking now / I am also reading that book!
All continuous tenses in English are TO BE + -ing
Eduardo Arcas Tense Revision
STATIVE VERBS They usually conjugate in PRES. SIMPLE and express BELIEVE
DISLIKE HATE
ENJOY
FEELINGS
PREFER
GUESS
FORGET
LIKE KNOW
MENTAL VERBS
REMEMBER
WANT LOVE FEEL TASTE
HOPE
AGREE
SENSES
OWN
COST
HEAR TOUCH
BELONG
OTHER
DEPEND SMELL Eduardo Arcas Tense Revision
HAVE
NEED
SEE MEASURE
PAST SIMPLE It is used to express a finished action in the past. Last week I went shopping and then I had a coke in a pub. To express habits in the past USED TO is used. My teacher used to give us a lot of homework. *My teacher usually gave us a lot of homework.
Eduardo Arcas Tense Revision
PAST CONTINUOS It is used to express past actions but focusing on the
duration.
I was sleeping all night
These actions are sometimes interrupted by another
shorter action (Past Simple).
The brickie was working when the wall collapsed
Two actions in the Past Continuous are simultaneous I was surfing the Net and listening to music at the same time Eduardo Arcas Tense Revision
DIAGRAMS Two simultaneous actions (Past Continuous)
Short action (Past Simple) interrupting a longer one (Past Cont.)
Short actions one after another (Past Simple)
Eduardo Arcas Tense Revision
PRESENT PERFECT Actions that began in the past and still continues. I have driven my car for two years Actions that have an effect on the present. My mother has opened the window Actions that happened at some unknown time in the past.
We have been to Greece
Eduardo Arcas Tense Revision
MORE PRESENT PERFECT ALREADY: positive (m) YET: negative & question (f) JUST: recent action (m) Introduces a moment in the past We have lived here since 2008 Introduces a period of time
She has been to France
We have lived here for a year Eduardo Arcas Tense Revision
The subject is back
The subject is still there
She has gone to France
Eduardo Arcas Tense Revision
PAST PERFECT
It is used to express an action that happens before
another past action.
When my brother arrived, we had already had lunch
Eduardo Arcas Tense Revision
THE FUTURE
Edu Arcas – Tenses Review