Verb Tenses

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Verb Tenses
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The Twelve Traditional Tenses
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Simple Present

• It is used to signal the following meanings
• Habitual actions in the present.
• He walks to class every day.
• General timeless truths.
• Water freezes at 0 degrees centigrade.
• Sensory or mental perception in the present.
• I see a sign in the corner.
• I know that Charlotte is a teacher.
• Narrative present
• Marc hits the ball and falls over.

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Present Continuous

• Action in progress
• She is eating her lunch now.
• A temporary present occupation or activity
• She is studying at Keele University now.
• Repetition in a series of similar ongoing actions
• Skippy is pushing the football around the garden.

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Simple past

• A definite completed action in the past.
• He flew to the UK on Saturday.
• Habitual action in the past.
• Chris jogged to work every day last year.
• A situation that applied in the past with the
  implication that it no longer applies in the
  present.
• Professor Walker lectured at Keele for 30
  years.

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Past Progressive

• An action in progress at a specific point of time
  in the past
• We were playing volleyball at 1.00pm on
  Wednesday.
• Past action simultaneous with some other past
  event
• Students were working in the language lab when
  I walked past the door.
• Repetition of some on-going past action
• She was talking throughout the entire film.

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Simple future

• An action to take place at some definite future
  time
• Russell will walk to Newcastle tomorrow.
• A future habitual action or future state
• Russell will take the bus to Hanley next year.
• A situation that may occur in the present and
  will occur in the future but with a definite end
  date.
• You will live in England until you finish your
  degree.

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Future Continuous

• An action that will be in progress at a specific
  time in the near future
• He will be walking to school at 9.00am tomorrow.
• Duration of some specific future action
• Skippy will be working on her thesis for the
  next ten years.

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Present Perfect

• A situation that began in the past and that
  continues into the present.
• I have taught English for 24 years.
• A past experience with current relevance
• I have already seen that movie.
• A very recently completed action
• Skippy has just finished her homework.

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Present Perfect Progressive

• A situation or habit that began in the past and
  that continues up to the present
• I have been living in England for 19 years.
• The incompleteness of an action in progress
• I have been reading a book.
• Compare I have read a book.

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Past Perfect

• An action completed in the past prior to some
  other past event
• He had already walked to Newcastle before I could
  offer him a ride.
• Past conditional
• If she had studied harder, she would have passed
  the exam.

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Past Perfect Progressive

• An action or habit taking place over a period of
  time in the past prior to some other past event
• He had been walking to work before his father
  bought him a bicycle.
• A past action that is in progress gets
  interrupted by another past action
• We had been planning to holiday in France but
  changed our minds when we heard about the bad
  weather.

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Future Perfect

• A future action that will be completed prior to a
  specific future time
• I will have finished this work by midnight.
• A state or action that will be completed in the
  future prior to some other future time or event
• I will have finished my essay by the time you
  return from clubbing.

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Future Perfect Progressive

• Habitual action that is taking place in the
  present and that will continue into the future up
  until or through a specific future time
• He will have been studying for 3 hours by the
  time I get home.

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Task One

• Find a partner.
• Ask him or her what his or her daily activities
  are.
• Once you have noted these you must take turns
  asking questions about key activities
• What does X do everyday?
• It is 6.30. What is X doing?
• Ask questions

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