SUMMARY OF TENSES

Word order in a sentence

Subject
I Max

Verb
Play reads

Object
football. books.

We
Sue

can speak
is singing

English.
a nice song.

Word
Time I They My friend Every Saturday Peter Subject Verb have play is swimming watches

order
Object breakfast Handball Place in the kitchen. in the gym in the pool. TV at home. every Monday. Time

Auxiliary Verbs to be to do to have

They can be used as an auxiliary and a main verb. As an auxiliary the verbs are used with a main verb when forming interrogative ( question ) or negative sentences

Forms of To be To have To do

Present Is, are, am Have,has Do, does

Past Was, were had did

Past participle been had done

What is a past participle?

A past participle indicates past or completed action or time. It is often called the 'ed' form as it is formed by adding d or ed, to the base form of regular verbs, however it is also formed in various other ways for irregular verbs.

present simple

present continuous

present perfect

present perfect continuous

FORM

The Present simple

The present simple is formed with the infinitive of the main verb. The negative and interrogative are formed with the present tense of the verb to do + infinitive.
He She It

Verb + s

Examples
He starts work at 8.30 a.m. Does he start work?
(auxilliary does in front of a

subject)

He doesnt start work until 9.00 a..m.

(auxilliary does+ not between a subject and a main verb )

PRESENT SIMPLE
Present period

Routines, habits, hobbies I play tennis.

Characteristics Babies like milk. General truth Water boils at 100C.

present simple

present continuous

present perfect

present perfect continuous

USE
1. for habitual and repeated actions Example I play blues harp and dobro guitar

2. with adverbs (or expressions) of frequency

( often usually sometimes -seldom rarely always occasionally never twice a week - on Tuesdays most of the time ....)

Example

He often arrives late

present simple

present continuous

present perfect

present perfect continuous

FORM This tense is formed with the present tense of the verb to be + present participle of the main verb.
Is Are am

Verb+ ing

Examples He She It - is I - am We You they - are He is watching television. Is He watching television He isn t watching television.

present simple

present continuous

present perfect

present perfect continuous

USE 1. For actions happening at the moment of speaking.

Example
She is reading the newspaper now. Is she speaking now ?

She is not speaking now.

The present continuous is used

to describe a temporary event or situation, That is happening around now e.g. He usually plays the drums, but he's playing bass guitar tonight. The weather forecast was good, but it's raining at the moment.

 Where does he play the guitar ? auxiliary subject verb object Why does he drink beer ?
When do they write
verb

homework ?
object

auxiliary subject

How is he How often.

singing new songs ?


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
10.

Put the verbs into the correct tense (simple present or present progressive).

Look! He (leave) the house. Quiet please! I (write) a test. She usually (walk) to school. But look! Today she (go) by bike. Every Sunday we (go) to see my grandparents. He often (go) to the cinema. We (play) Monopoly at the moment. The child seldom (cry) . I (not / do) anything at the moment.
(watch / he) the news regularly

 Complete the sentences.

Use Simple Present or Present Progressive. (you / go) on holiday by plane sometimes? (they / play) computer games every day? (she / eat) dinner at the moment? What (they / do) right now? (she / visit) her grandma very often ?

 Put in the correct verb forms into the gaps. Use Simple Present.
Example: ___ they ______ their friends? (to phone) Answer: Do they phone their friends? 1) ____you________ mineral water? (to drink) 2)____ Sarah and Linda ________their pets? (to feed) 3)______ your teacher______ your homework? (to check) 4) ______they______ in the old house? (to live) 5) _____the cat______ on the wall in the mornings? (to sit) 6) _____Nina ________computer games? (to play)

Simple Past/Past Simple Use 1) action finished in the past I visited Berlin last week. 2) series of completed actions in the past First I got up, then I had breakfast Signal words yesterday, last week, a month ago, in 2002 Form - with regular verbs: infinitive + -ed - with irregular verbs: 2nd column of the table of the irregular verbs

regular verbs

irregular verbs

I played football We visited Alaska last year.

I went to the cinema. We were in Rome yesterday.

Questions: Use the auxiliary did (Simple Past of to do).

Did you play football? He did not play football

Did I go to cinema ? I didn t go to the cinema.

Put the correct forms of the verbs into the gaps. Use the Simple Past in the statements.

Example: I ______ to the teacher. (to talk)

Answer: I talked to the teacher. 1) Jane a film. (to watch) 2) He a box. (to carry) 3) They their father. (to help) 4) John and Amy things. (to swap) 5) I to Andrew. (to talk) 6) Susan with Peter. (to dance) 7) The boys basketball. (to try) 8) We a trip. (to plan) 9) She her hair. (to wash) 10) The car at the traffic lights. (to stop)

Present Perfect Tense

FORM: have / has + past participle

Affirmative:

I have seen the film before. She has seen the film before.

Interrogative: Have you seen the film before? Has she seen the film before? Negative: They havent seen the film before. He hasnt seen the film before.

Present Perfect Tense

3- It is used to express actions which started in the past and are still continuing in the present, the time period is not finished.

I have lost my keys. (And I havent found them yet.)

present simple

present continuous

present perfect

present perfect continuous

on the time diagram

past

now

future

We have conducted experiments on this phenomenon for almost two years.

 1) Our class the test yet. (not/to write) 2) Tim and Joe a box. (not/to carry) 3) It to snow. (to start) 4) The cat onto the table. (to jump) 5) I the castle. (not/to visit) 6) We out of the room. (to go) 7) Fred the money. (to steal) 8) They Anne about it. (to tell) 9) Steven through the park. (to walk) 10) The teacher to the party. (to come)

Present Perfect + for and since

To talk about actions and states which started in the past and are still true now.
- How long have you lived in Granada? - Ive lived in Granada since 1990 / for 20 years. (I live in Granada now.)

Present Perfect or Past Simple

We use definite expressions with the Past simple tense: yesterday, last week, ago, etc, while we dont use definite time expressions with the Present perfect tense. I have been to France three times.
When did you go there? I went there last summer.

Positive Sentences
Put the verbs into the correct tense (simple past or present perfect simple).

1. Mary 2. We 3. James 4. He 5. They 6. I 7. Phil 8. We 9. She 10. Emily

(win) the lottery last year. (prepare / already) dinner. (find) your ring in the garden yesterday. (come / just) home. (buy) their car two years ago. (see / not) anyone yet. (go to the cinema last night. (be) to the zoo so far. (arrive) yet. (visit / not) me last w

present simple

present continuous

present perfect

present perfect continuous

USE 1. Actions in the recent past with just, recently, already, at last, lately 2. General experience with ever never before so far 3. he indefinite past: we are interested in what happened, not in when it happened. 4. Actions starting in the past and continuing to the present, with for or since.

Example
The operation has been suspended for two months. The firm has had a Belgian branch since October last year.

present simple

present continuous

present perfect

present perfect continuous

on the time diagram

relationship with the

present moment

past

now

future

I ve just arrived.

present simple

present continuous

present perfect

present perfect continuous

on the time diagram

past

? ?

now

future

Have you been to France?

present simple

present continuous

present perfect

present perfect continuous

on the time diagram

past

now

future

They have revised their report.