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Tenses.  

A Tense is a form taken by a verb to indicate the time of action. Verbs come in 

three tenses: past, present, and future.The past is used to describe things that have 

already happened (e.g., earlier in the day, yesterday, last week, three years ago). 

The present tense is used to describe things that are happening right now, or things 

that are continuous. The future tense describes things that have yet to happen 

(e.g., later, tomorrow, next week, next year, three years from now). 

 

How to express the main tenses in English: 

 

•  The present: 

- The present simple, for permanent truths, and habits: 

Winter begins December 21st. This happens on the same date every year. 

Icarus works from 8 to 6 every day. Icarus always works from 8 to 6. 

- The present progressive (be + verb ending in -ing), if the action is in the process 

of being carried out: 

The children are playing in the garden. They are playing in the garden at this 

moment. 

What are you doing? What are you doing right now? 

•  The past: 

- The past simple (verb + -ed ending, for regular verbs) expresses a completed 

action: 

I finished my homework five minutes ago. I don't have any more homework to do. 

We went to France last summer. We went to France last summer, and then we 

came back home. 

- In the past continuous, the action was in the process of being carried out: 

When the boss arrived, I was sleeping on my desk. I was sleeping on my desk at 

the very moment my boss arrived. 

•  The future: 

- The future simple, with the auxiliary verb WILL: 

Tomorrow I will go and buy stamps. 

The train won't arrive on time. 

- The future progressive expresses an ongoing action in the future: 

At this time tomorrow, we will be surfing the waves of the Indian ocean. 

- The near future, using the expression be going to, expresses an intention, or a 

conviction: 

I am going to call him, I can't wait anymore. Pass me the telephone! 

 

Things to remember about simple tense: 

 

     a. Present tense is the original verb form. 

     b. Past tense has a few patterns. 

     c. Future tense needs will (shall) + verb 

TEST 

1. She _ a tasty Italian meal for last week dinner party. 

А) will cook 

В) cooks 

С) cooked 

D) cook 

2. After the storm ___ finished, many people were found lying in the street. 

А)has 

B)had 

C)were 

D)did 

3. 3. I must admit you ___ tried but I'm afraid the answer is still no. 

A)did 

B)will 

C)do 

D)have 

4. I had instructions that I ___ to leave the door unlocked when I came home. 

A)will being 

B)were 

C)am 

D)was 

5. Don't worry even if you make a mistake because if you ___, it doesn't matter. 

A)were doing 

B)had done 

C)do 

D)will do 

Exercise 1. Join the two parts of sentences. 

1. Fred plays tennis... 

2. Fred is playing tennis... 

3. Fred has played tennis... 

4. Fred played tennis... 

5. Fred was playing tennis... 

6. Fred will play tennis... 

a) every Monday. 

b) for several times. 

c) at the moment. 

d) at that time. 

e) next Monday. 

f) when he was 15. 

 

Exercise 2. Copy the sentences and note if they refer to the present, past or future. 

Write the tense against each sentence. 

Example: He cut his finger with a knife. (SimplePast) 

1.  He often cut shimself. 

2.  What time did John arrive? 

3.  I never forget anything. 

4.  Are you sitting comfortably? 

5.  We drank a lot of Coke at the party. 

6.  It was raining all night. 

7.  The train will leave in a few minutes. 

8.  I put on a clean shirt yesterday.