Summarize tenses in English language

Summarize tenses in English language Tenses combinedDifferent between tensesHanoi University Business and TechnologyPastPresentFuture Simple TensePastPresentFuture Continuous TensePastPresentFuture Perfect TensePastPresentFuture Perfect Continuous Tense

Summarize

English language

Thai Thi Van Anh Hanoi University of Business and Technology

Tenses

combined

The combination of tenses

ure

PRESENT

SIMPLE

TENSE

01

+

• The base form of the infinitive

= to go, to need, to live

• Third person verbs lose the final ‘s’ in affirmative sentences

She doesn’t live in Italy.

We don’t go there.

+

• Yes, S + do / does…

No, S + do not (don’t) / does not (doesn’t)…

• Third person verbs lose the final ‘s’ in question

Do you think so?

=> Yes, I do / No, I do not (don’t).

Am not Aren’t Isn’t Isn’t Isn’t

Early.

My destiny.

Quiet.

We You They

Aren’t Aren’t Aren’t

Late.

Teachers.

Noisy.

Aren’t = Are not Aren’t = Are not

? QUESTION

+

? Question

Affirmative They are happy She is rich

Are they happy? Is she rich?

Short answer Yes, they are/

No, they aren’t

Yes, she is/

No, she isn’t

You are not You’re not You aren’t

We are not We’re not

We aren’t

He is not He’s not

He isn’t

=

Actions that happen frequently

Habits, repeated actions and permanent situations

Timetables, schedules, notifications

The facts

Jobs, favorites, thought, feelings, opinions

• She always goes to the gym.

• She usually gets up at 6a.m.

• Water boils at 100’C.

• Our train leaves at 7.30 tomorrow morning.

• I really hope everything goes well.

Seldom Rarely hardly

Every + time

Often Usually Frequently

Ever

Occasionally

Never

PAST

SIMPLE TENSE

02

+

She didn’t work yesterday.

They didn’t go to Spain for their holidays.

+

• Yes, S + did…

• No, S + did not / didn’t…

Did you go to the zoo yesterday?

=> Yes, I did / No, I did not / didn’t.

TO BE

I You He She It

? QUESTION

+

? Question

Affirmative She was a teacher They were friends

Was she a teacher ? Were they friends?

Short answer Yes, she was/ No,

she wasn’t

Yes, they were/

No, they weren’t

CONTRACTIONS

=

Was not Wasn’t

Were not Weren’t

To talk about events that happened in the past

• I walked to school yesterday

• I was a happy teenager

• I visited my grandma every winter for ten years.

To talk about moods or states of being in the past

To talk about repeated actions in the past

This morning

The other day

Conditional sentences type II

FUTURE SIMPLE TENSE

03

S + will / shall + V(bare form) + …

S + will not / won’t + V(bare form) + …

Will + S + V(bare form) + …?

• I will go to Thailand next month.

• I will not / won’t go to work next day.

• Will you free on the weekend?

• I have a toothache I‘ll take a medicine.

• I’m afraid we will get wet.

For actions decided at the moment of speech

For unplanned future actions

For offering, asking for a request promising, ordering, threatening.

• When I arrive at home, I will call you.

• I promise I won’t tell this anyone.

For unpreventable actions in future

With conditional, time and purpose clauses

For thoughts, predictions, assumptions, sureness, fears about future.

In 2050

month

Think / suppose / believe / guess /

perhaps / hope / expect The day

PRESENT

CONTINUOS

TENSE

04

• She isn’t / is not playing.

• Are you reading this book?

• I have a toothache I‘ll take a medicine.

• I’m afraid we will get wet.

For actions decided at the moment of speech

For unplanned future actions

For offering, asking for a request promising, ordering, threatening.

PAST CONTINUOS

TENSE

05

S + was/were + V-ing + …

S + was/were + not + V-ing + …Was/were + S + V-ing + …?

• I was eating eggs at 6.30 am yesterday.

• We weren’t / were not working at this time last day.

• Was he doing at this time last week?

• While I was washing the dishes, I heard the loud noise.

• I was working in the garden all day yesterday.

• I was driving to work when I crashed my car.

To describe parallel actions

To describe what someone was doing at a particular point in time

To express interrupted action in the past

To describe repetition and irritation

• He was always complaining in class.

At this/that time

At that time yesterday

FUTURE CONTINUOS

TENSE

06

S + will + be + V-ing + …

S + will + not + be + V-ing + …Will + S + be + V-ing + …?

• I will be singing in the concert tomorrow.

• You will not/ won’t be play.

• Will she be doing at this time tomorrow?

• When you come tomorrow, they will be playing tennis.

• At 12 o’clock tomorrow, we will be having lunch at school.

• Unfortunately, sea levels will still be rising in 20 years.

To describe interrupted actions in the future

To express actions in progress at a specific time in the future

To refer to actions that are happening now and

expected to continue some time in the future.

• Will you be bringing your friend to the party tonight?

• He‘ll be coming to visit us next week.

• When I arrive at the party everybody will be celebrating,

some will be dancing, other will be talking.

To ask a question politely about the future

To emphasize future plans and intentions

To describe atmosphere in the future.

To express parallel actions or series of parallel actions

in the future.

• She will be watching TV, and he will be cooking dinner.

Adverbs in the future.

At this time next week Time + adverbs in the future.

At 3 p.m tomorrow

PRESENT PERFECT

TENSE

07

S + have/has + V(pp) + …

S + have/has + not + V(pp) + …Have/has + S + V(pp) + …?

• I have tried sushi.

• You haven’t seen that movie yet.

• Have you decided where to spend your holiday?

• I have done all my homeworks

• They’ve been married for nearly Fifty years.

• He has written three books and he is working on another book.

Actions completed up to the present time without mentioning when it happened

Actions that started in the past and are

continuing in the present

Actions that were done before and are still done now.

• My last birthday was the worst day I’ve ever had

• I can’t get my house I’ve lost my keys.

An experience up to the present time (usually using “ever”)

About action in the past but important at the time of speaking

PAST PERFECT

TENSE

08

S + had + V(pp) + …

S + had + not + V(pp) + …Had + S + V(pp) + …?

• He had gone out when I came into the house.

• She hadn’t finished her lunch.

• Had the film ended when you arrived at the cinema?

• I met them after they had divorced

When two actions happened together in the past,

we use the past perfect tense for the action that happened before and the simple past for the action happened later

• We had had lunch when she arrived

The past perfect describes an action that happened and was completed before a cartain time in the past, or before another action that also ended in the past

soon as, no sooner than.

• No sooner had he returned from a long journey than he was

ordered to pack his bags

• Yesterday, I went out after I had finished my homework.

The action happenes as a precondition for another action

• I had prepared for the exams and was ready to do well.

In conditional sentences type 3: express unreal conditions

• If I had known that, I would have acted differently.

An action that happened during a period of time

in the past, before another time point

• I had lived abroad for 20 years when I received the transfer

SIGNAL

FUTURE PERFECT

TENSE

09

S + will + have + V(pp) + …

S + will + not + have + V(pp) + …Will + S + have + V(pp) + …?

• I will have finished my report by the end of this month.

• My father will not have her lunch.

• Will parents have come back Vietnam before the

summer vacation?

• I will have arrived at the office by 8 a.m

Used to express an action or event completed before a certain time in the future

• When you come back, I will have typed this email Used to express an action or event completed before a future action or event

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

TENSE

10

S + have/has + been + V-ing + …

S + have/has + not + been + V-ing + …Have/has + S + been + V-ing + …?

• She has been eating fast food for a year.

• My father haven’t been working since 2015.

• Has he been looking at the sky for a minute?

• I‘ve been living in Ireland for almost 4 years.

• You’ve lost a lot of weight Have you been going to the gym?

• Have they been learning English this week?

Express long actions that started in the past and

continue until now

Express recent actions that have clear evidence or results now

Typically used for shorter, more temporary situations

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

TENSE

11

S + had + been + V-ing + …

S + had not + been + V-ing + …Had + S + been + V-ing + …?

• She had been calling your clients for 2 years

• I hadn’t been learning Japanese for one year.

• Had he been cooking any meal when she came to my

home?

• He was tired because he had been jogging.

To describe a past action, already started and

continued up to another action or time in the past

To express the duration before something in the past

To describe the cause of something in the past

For

Since

FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS

TENSE

12

S + will + have + been + V-ing + …

S + will + not +have + been + V-ing + …Will + S + have + been + V-ing + …?

• I will have been working when you will come here for

dinner tomorrow

• I won’t have been laughing at him for the whole day.

• Will she have been eating dinner when I enter the

room?

• I will be tired when I get home because I will have been

walking for over an hour.

To talk about something that finishes just before another time or action

Next year / month / week

For + an hour / For 5 years

SOME NOTE

Present perfect Past simple

Differentiate between

present perfect and past simple.

- Time up to now - Definite time in the past

We haven’t seen each other since

January 1975 We met in January 1975

- A finished action with a result in the

present A finished action without result in the present

I’ve lost my keys I lost my keys yesterday It was

terrible.

- With an unfinished time word - With a finished time word

I’ve seen John this week I saw John last week.

TENSE COMBINE

D

Depicts actions that occur one after the other.

When he saw me, he smiled at me.

When I see him, I will remind him to call you

Describes an activity that is happening when another action is interfering.

When I came to see her, she was cooking dinner.

When you come in, your boss will be waiting for you there

Describe an activity that was completed before another.

When I arrived at the airport, the plane had taken off.

When you return to the town, they will have finished building a new bridge.

AS

SOON

AS

Depicts actions that occur one after the other.

As soon as she saw a mouse, she shouted and ran away.

I will call you as soon as I have finished/finish the work

SINCE Describe the meaning of

“since”.

S + V(present perfect) + Since + V(past simple).

We have known each other since we were at high school

BY

+TIME

Describes an action that concludes at some time in the past or future.

By last month, we had worked for the company for 9 years

By next month, we will have worked for the company for 9 years

a certain point

in time either in the past/future.

As this time last week, we were preparing for Tet

As this time next week, we will be having a big party in the garden

BY THE

TIME

Describe the meaning of “by the time”.

By the time she came home, everyone had gone to bed

By the time she comes home, everyone will have gone to bed

Depicts an action that happened before aonther action came.

After she had done her homework, she went out for a walk

After she has done her homework, she goes out for a walk

BEFORE

Describes an action that occurs before another action came.

Before she went to bed, she had locked all the doors

Hurry up or the film will have ended before we go to the movie

UNTIL

/TIL

Describe the meaning of

“until/till”.

S + V(future simple) / V(bare) / Don’t + V(bare) + Until / Till + S +

V(present simple/perfect).

I will wait for you until it is possible.

Wait here until I come back.

The

End!

Thank

You!Thai Thi Van Anh Hanoi University of Business and Technology