Tense Explanation

                                   TENSE

 Tenses are verb forms that indicate the time frame of an action. They show whether the action is in the past, present or future. There are three main tenses in English: present tense, past tense, and future tense. Each main tense has several sub-tenses that add further detail about the action.

1. Simple Present Tense: indicates a habit or general truth and is formed using the base form of the verb (e.g. "I eat breakfast every day").

2. Present Continuous Tense: indicates an action happening now and is formed using the present tense of "to be" + present participle (e.g. "I am eating breakfast now").

3. Present Perfect Tense: indicates an action completed recently or its effects in the present and is formed using the present tense of "to have" + past participle (e.g. "I have eaten breakfast already").

4. Present Perfect Continuous Tense: indicates a continuous action that started in the past and continues in the present and is formed using the present tense of "to have" + been + present participle (e.g. "I have been eating breakfast for an hour").

5. Simple Past Tense: indicates an action completed in the past and is formed using the past tense of the verb (e.g. "I ate breakfast yesterday").

6. Past Continuous Tense: indicates a past action in progress and is formed using the past tense of "to be" + present participle (e.g. "I was eating breakfast at 8am").

7. Past Perfect Tense: indicates a past action completed before another past action and is formed using the past tense of "to have" + past participle (e.g. "I had eaten breakfast before I left for work").

8. Past Perfect Continuous Tense: indicates a past continuous action that was completed before a certain point in the past and is formed using the past tense of "to have" + been + present participle (e.g. "I had been eating breakfast for an hour when my friend called").

9. Simple Future Tense: indicates a future action or event and is formed using "will" + base form of the verb (e.g. "I will eat breakfast tomorrow").

10. Future Continuous Tense: indicates a future action in progress and is formed using "will be" + present participle (e.g. "I will be eating breakfast at 8am tomorrow").

11. Future Perfect Tense: indicates a future action that will be completed at a certain point in the future and is formed using "will have" + past participle (e.g. "I will have eaten breakfast by 8:30am tomorrow").

12. Future Perfect Continuous Tense: indicates a future continuous action that will have been completed by a certain point in the future and is formed using "will have been" + present participle (e.g. "I will have been eating breakfast for an hour by 9am tomorrow").

Click on Practice Tense below (MCQ)

Practice Tense