Tenses Simple Present FORM
[VERB] + s/es in third person USE 1 Repeated Actions
Use the Simple Present to express the idea that an action is repeated or usual. The action can be a habit, a hobby, a daily event, a scheduled event or something that often happens. It can also be something a person often forgets or usually does not do. Examples:
I play tennis. She does not play tennis. Does he play tennis?
Present Continuous FORM
[am/is/are + present participle] USE 1 Now
Use the Present Continuous with Normal Verbs to express the idea that something is happening now, at this very
moment. It can also be used to show that something is not happening now. Examples:
You are learning English now. You are not swimming now. Are you sleeping? I am sitting. I am not standing. Is he sitting or standing? They are reading their books. They are not watching television. What are you doing? Why aren't you doing your homework?
Simple Past FORM
[VERB+ed] or irregular verbs USE 1 Completed Action in the Past
Use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes, the speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind. Examples:
I saw a movie yesterday. I didn't see a play yesterday. Last year, I traveled to Japan. Last year, I didn't travel to Korea. Did you have dinner last night? She washed her car. He didn't wash his car.
Past Continuous FORM
[was/were + present participle] USE 1 Interrupted Action in the Past
Use the Past Continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past was interrupted. The interruption is usually a shorter action in the Simple Past. Remember this can be a real interruption or just an interruption in time. Examples:
I was watching TV when she called. When the phone rang, she was writing a letter. While we were having the picnic, it started to rain. What were you doing when the earthquake started? I was listening to my iPod, so I didn't hear the fire alarm.
You were not listening to me when I told you to turn the oven off. While John was sleeping last night, someone stole his car. Sammy was waiting for us when we got off the plane. While I was writing the email, the computer suddenly went off. A: What were you doing when you broke your leg? B: I was snowboarding.
Present Perfect FORM
[has/have + past participle] USE 1 Unspecified Time Before Now
We use the Present Perfect to say that an action happened at an unspecified time before now. The exact time is not important. You CANNOT use the Present Perfect with specific time expressions such as: yesterday, one year ago, last week, when I was a child, when I lived in Japan, at that moment, that day, one day, etc. We CAN use the Present Perfect with unspecific expressions such as: ever, never, once, many times, several times, before, so far, already, yet, etc. Examples:
I have seen that movie twenty times.
I think I have met him once before. There have been many earthquakes in California. People have traveled to the Moon. People have not traveled to Mars. Have you read the book yet? Nobody has ever climbed that mountain. A: Has there ever been a war in the United States? B: Yes, there has been a war in the United States.
Present Perfect Continuous FORM
[has/have + been + present participle] USE 1 Duration from the Past Until Now
We use the Present Perfect Continuous to show that something started in the past and has continued up until now. "For five minutes," "for two weeks," and "since Tuesday" are all durations which can be used with the Present Perfect Continuous. Examples:
They have been talking for the last hour. She has been working at that company for three years. What have you been doing for the last 30 minutes?
James has been teaching at the university since June. We have been waiting here for over two hours! Why has Nancy not been taking her medicine for the last three days?
Past Perfect FORM
[had + past participle] USE 1 Completed Action Before Something in the Past
The Past Perfect expresses the idea that something occurred before another action in the past. It can also show that something happened before a specific time in the past. Examples:
I had never seen such a beautiful beach before I went to Kauai. I did not have any money because I had lost my wallet. Tony knew Istanbul so well because he had visited the city several times. Had Susan ever studied Thai before she moved to Thailand? She only understood the movie because she had read the book. Kristine had never been to an opera before last night.
We were not able to get a hotel room because we had not booked in advance. A: Had you ever visited the U.S. before your trip in 2006? B: Yes, I had been to the U.S. once before.
Past Perfect Continuous FORM
[had been + present participle] USE 1 Duration Before Something in the Past
We use the Past Perfect Continuous to show that something started in the past and continued up until another time in the past. "For five minutes" and "for two weeks" are both durations which can be used with the Past Perfect Continuous. Notice that this is related to the Present Perfect Continuous; however, the duration does not continue until now, it stops before something else in the past. Examples:
They had been talking for over an hour before Tony arrived. She had been working at that company for three years when it went out of business. How long had you been waiting to get on the bus? Mike wanted to sit down because he had been standing all day at work.
James had been teaching at the university for more than a year before he left for Asia. A: How long had you been studying Turkish before you moved to Ankara? B: I had not been studying Turkish very long.
Simple Future
Simple Future has two different forms in English: "will" and "be going to." Although the two forms can sometimes be used interchangeably, they often express two very different meanings. These different meanings might seem too abstract at first, but with time and practice, the differences will become clear. Both "will" and "be going to" refer to a specific time in the future.
FORM Will
[will + verb] Examples:
You will help him later. Will you help him later? You will not help him later.
FORM Be Going To
[am/is/are + going to + verb] Examples:
You are going to meet Jane tonight. Are you going to meet Jane tonight? You are not going to meet Jane tonight.
Future Continuous
Future Continuous has two different forms: "will be doing " and "be going to be doing." Unlike Simple Future forms, Future Continuous forms are usually interchangeable. FORM Future Continuous with "Will"
[will be + present participle] Examples:
You will be waiting for her when her plane arrives tonight. Will you be waiting for her when her plane arrives tonight? You will not be waiting for her when her plane arrives tonight.
FORM Future Continuous with "Be Going To "
[am/is/are + going to be + present participle] Examples:
You are going to be waiting for her when her plane arrives tonight. Are you going to be waiting for her when her plane arrives tonight?
You are not going to be waiting for her when her plane arrives tonight.
Future Perfect
Future Perfect has two different forms: "will have done" and "be going to have done." Unlike Simple Future forms, Future Perfect forms are usually interchangeable. FORM Future Perfect with "Will"
[will have + past participle] Examples:
You will have perfected your English by the time you come back from the U.S. Will you have perfected your English by the time you come back from the U.S.? You will not have perfected your English by the time you come back from the U.S.
FORM Future Perfect with "Be Going To"
[am/is/are + going to have + past participle] Examples:
You are going to have perfected your English by the time you come back from the U.S. Are you going to have perfected your English by the time you come back from the U.S.? You are not going to have perfected your English by the time you come back from the U.S.
Future Perfect Continuous
Future Perfect Continuous has two different forms: "will have been doing " and "be going to have been doing." Unlike Simple Futureforms, Future Perfect Continuous forms are usually interchangeable. FORM Future Perfect Continuous with "Will"
[will have been + present participle] Examples:
You will have been waiting for more than two hours when her plane finally arrives. Will you have been waiting for more than two hours when her plane finally arrives? You will not have been waiting for more than two hours when her plane finally arrives.
FORM Future Perfect Continuous with "Be Going To"
[am/is/are + going to have been + present participle] Examples:
You are going to have been waiting for more than two hours when her plane finally arrives. Are you going to have been waiting for more than two hours when her plane finally arrives? You are not going to have been waiting for more than two hours when her plane finally arrives.
NOTE: It is possible to use either "will" or "be going to" to create the Future Perfect Continuous with little or no difference in meaning.
Complete List of Future Perfect Continuous Forms USE 1 Duration Before Something in the Future
We use the Future Perfect Continuous to show that something will continue up until a particular event or time in the future. "For five minutes," "for two weeks," and "since Friday" are all durations which can be used with the Future Perfect Continuous. Notice that this is related to the Present Perfect Continuous and the Past Perfect Continuous; however, with Future Perfect Continuous, the duration stops at or before a reference point in the future. Examples:
They will have been talking for over an hour by the time Thomas arrives. She is going to have been working at that company for three years when it finally closes. James will have been teaching at the university for more than a year by the time he leaves for Asia. How long will you have been studying when you graduate? We are going to have been driving for over three days straight when we get to Anchorage. A: When you finish your English course, will you have been living in New Zealand for over a year? B: No, I will not have been living here that long.
Conditional I Simple
action that might take place if sentences type II (If I were you, I would go home.)
A: He would speak. N: He would not speak. Q: Would he speak? Conditional I Progressive action that might take place putting emphasis on the course /duration of the action A: He would be speaking. N: He would not be speaking. Q: Would he be speaking?
Conditional II Simple action that might have taken place in the past if sentences type III (If I had seen that, Iwould have helped.)
A: He would have spoken. N: He would not have spoken. Q: Would he have spoken? Conditional II Progressive action that might have taken place in the past puts emphasis on the course /duration of the action A: He would have been speaking. N: He would not have been speaking. Q: Would he have been speaking?
Modal Auxiliaries
Other helping verbs, called modal auxiliaries or modals, such as can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will, and would, do not change form for different subjects. For instance, try substituting any of these modal auxiliaries for can with any of the subjects listed below. I you (singular) he we you (plural) they
can write well.
There is also a separate section on the Modal Auxiliaries, which divides these verbs into their various meanings of necessity, advice, ability, expectation, permission, possibility, etc., and provides sample sentences in various tenses. See the section on Conditional Verb Forms for help with the modal auxiliary would. The shades of meaning among modal auxiliaries are multifarious and complex. Most English-as-a-Second-Language textbooks will contain at least one chapter on their usage. For more advanced students, A University Grammar of English, by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum, contains an excellent, extensive analysis of modal auxiliaries. The analysis of Modal Auxiliaries is based on a similar analysis in The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers by Maxine Hairston and John J. Ruszkiewicz. 4th ed. HarperCollins: New York. 1996. The description of helping verbs on this page is based on The Little, Brown Handbook by H. Ramsay Fowler and Jane E. Aaron, & Kay Limburg. 6th ed. HarperCollins: New York. 1995. By permission of Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc. Examples in all cases are our own. Uses of Can and Could The modal auxiliary can is used to express ability (in the sense of being able to do something or knowing how to do something): He can speak Spanish but he can't write it very well. to expression permission (in the sense of being allowed or permitted to do something):
Can I talk to my friends in the library waiting room? (Note that can is less formal than may. Also, some writers will object to the use of canin this context.) to express theoretical possibility: American automobile makers can make better cars if they think there's a profit in it. The modal auxiliary could is used to express an ability in the past: I could always beat you at tennis when we were kids. to express past or future permission: Could I bury my cat in your back yard? to express present possibility: We could always spend the afternoon just sitting around talking. to express possibility or ability in contingent circumstances: If he studied harder, he could pass this course. In expressing ability, can and could frequently also imply willingness: Can you help me with my homework?
Can versus May Whether the auxiliary verb can can be used to express permission or not — "Can I leave the room now?" ["I don't know if you can, but you may."] — depends on the level of formality of your text or situation. As Theodore Bernstein puts it in The Careful Writer, "a writer who is attentive to the proprieties will preserve the traditional distinction: can for ability or power to do something, mayfor permission to do it. The question is at what level can you safely ignore the "proprieties." Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, tenth edition, says the battle is over and can can be used in virtually any situation to express or ask for permission. Most authorities, however, recommend a stricter adherence to the distinction, at least in formal situations.
Authority: The Careful Writer by Theodore Bernstein. The Free Press: New York. 1998. p. 87.
Uses of May and Might Two of the more troublesome modal auxiliaries are may and might. When used in the context of granting or seeking permission, might is the past tense ofmay. Might is considerably more tentative than may. May I leave class early? If I've finished all my work and I'm really quiet, might I leave early? In the context of expressing possibility, may and might are interchangeable present and future forms and might + have + past participle is the past form: She might be my advisor next semester. She may be my advisor next semester. She might have advised me not to take biology. Avoid confusing the sense of possibility in may with the implication of might,that a hypothetical situation has not in fact occurred. For instance, let's say there's been a helicopter crash at the airport. In his initial report, before all the facts are gathered, a newscaster could say that the pilot "may have been injured." After we discover that the pilot is in fact all right, the newscaster can now say that the pilot "might have been injured" because it is a hypothetical situation that has not occurred. Another example: a body had been identified after much work by a detective. It was reported that "without this painstaking work, the body may have remained unidentified." Since the body was, in fact, identified, might is clearly called for.
Uses of Will and Would In certain contexts, will and would are virtually interchangeable, but there are differences. Notice that the contracted form 'll is very
frequently used for will. Will can be used to express willingness: I'll wash the dishes if you dry. We're going to the movies. Will you join us? It can also express intention (especially in the first person): I'll do my exercises later on. and prediction: specific: The meeting will be over soon. timeless: Humidity will ruin my hairdo. habitual: The river will overflow its banks every spring. Would can also be used to express willingness: Would you please take off your hat? It can also express insistence (rather rare, and with a strong stress on the word "would"): Now you've ruined everything. You would act that way. and characteristic activity: customary: After work, he would walk to his home in West Hartford. typical (casual): She would cause the whole family to be late, every time. In a main clause, would can express a hypothetical meaning: My cocker spaniel would weigh a ton if I let her eat what she wants. Finally, would can express a sense of probability: I hear a whistle. That would be the five o'clock train.
Uses of Used to
The auxiliary verb construction used to is used to express an action that took place in the past, perhaps customarily, but now that action no longer customarily takes place: We used to take long vacation trips with the whole family. The spelling of this verb is a problem for some people because the "ed" ending quite naturally disappears in speaking: "We yoostoo take long trips." But it ought not to disappear in writing. There are exceptions, though. When the auxiliary is combined with another auxiliary, did, the past tense is carried by the new auxiliary and the "ed" ending is dropped. This will often happen in the interrogative: Didn't you use to go jogging every morning before breakfast? It didn't use to be that way. Used to can also be used to convey the sense of being accustomed to or familiar with something: The tire factory down the road really stinks, but we're used to it by now. I like these old sneakers; I'm used to them. Used to is best reserved for colloquial usage; it has no place in formal or academic text.