Tenses in English

Tenses in English

Present:

Simple Present – facts, habits, times

John paints pictures very well.

Present Continuous – something happening now

John is painting a portrait.

Present Perfect – something that happened recently, repeated action

John has finished painting my portrait.

Present Perfect Continuous – began in past and continues now

John has been painting for several hours now.

Past:

Simple Past – action which began and ended in past

John painted that portrait yesterday.

Past Continuous – interruption, repeated in past

John was painting when the call came through to him.

Past Perfect – action occurred before another

John had finished the picture when it began to rain.

Past Perfect Continuous – continuing action before another action

John had been painting the picture when he realized his mistake.

Future:

Simple Future (will, going to) – predicting something

John will paint my portrait tomorrow.

John is going to paint my picture tomorrow.

Future Continuous – continuing action at a particular time in the future

John will be painting all morning long tomorrow.

Future Perfect – action completed before a particular time in the future

John will have painted my portrait by 3:00 pm.

Future Perfect Continuous – duration of time before completion of a future action

John will have been painting my portrait for 2 hours when she calls him.

Identify the tense in each of the following:

I had already been studying English a long time when I first met him.

I will have studied English for an hour when the storm begins.

I study English every day.

I am studying English now.

I had studied English for two years before I went to Australia. (past perf. – WHY?)

I have studied English in many schools. ( present perfect – WHY? )

I was studying English when I heard the phone ring.

I will be studying English when you come for me tomorrow.

I will have been studying English for an hour when the storm begins.

I studied English in the US.

I have been studying English since I was a child. (pres. perf. cont. – WHY?)

I am going to study English next year. (simple future – WHY?)

References:

Simple Present: http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplepresent.html

Present Perfect : http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html

Present Continuous: http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentcontinuous.html

Present Perf Cont: http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfectcontinuous.html

Simple Past: http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplepast.html

Past Perfect : http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastperfect.html

Past Continuous: http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastcontinuous.html

Past Perf. Cont: http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastperfectcontinuous.html

Simple Future: http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplefuture.html

Future Perfect: http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/futureperfect.html

Future Cont: http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/futurecontinuous.html

Future Perf. Cont: http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/futureperfectcontinuous.html