Grammar: Tenses

TENSES

The following are review of verb tenses:

Usage	Examples
Present Continuous Tense
1.      An activity that is in progress at the moment 2.      A general activity that takes place this week, this month, or this year. 3.      Future arrangements	Mary is watching TV right now. I’m training for the Olympics. I’m going to Sweden next winner.
Simple Present Tense
1.      A habitual action 2.      A general fact 3.      Future timetables	I run every morning. The sun rises in the east. The ticket office opens at 9:00.
Simple Past Tense
1.      An action that began and ended at a specific time in the past 2.      An action that occurred over a period of time and was completed in the past 3.      An activity that took place regularly in the past	We won a gold medal last year. She skated for fifteen years. She trained every morning before work.

Past Continuous Tense
1.      An interrupted action 2.      A repeated or continuous state in the past	I was watching the Olympics on TV, when he walked in. I was making many new friends at the Olympic village.
Future Tense (going to)
1.      Expressing a  prior plan 2.      Predicting something that is likely to happen in the future	My brother is going to go with me next week. We are going to win. I know it.
Future Tense (will)
1.      Predicting something that is likely to happen in the future 2.      Expressing willingness to do something 3.      Making a decision at the time of speaking	You will win the race. I know it. I will go with you if you like. I will call you in a few minutes then.
Future Continuous Tense
1.      An action that will be continuing at a particular time in the future 2.      An action that has happened recently 3.      An action that began in the past and continuous in the present (usually with “for” or “since”) 4.      Repetition of an action before now	I have seen him on television. She has been gone out. She has been training for two years. He has been the Olympics several times.
Present Perfect Continuous Tense
1.      Expressing the duration of an action that began in the past and continuous in the present (with “for”, “since”, “all morning,” “all day) 2.      A general action in progress recently for which no specific times in mentioned 3.      An action that began in the past and has just recently ended	John has been swimming for two hours. I have been thinking about competing next year. Have you been crying? Your eyes are red.
Past Perfect Tense
1.      A past action that occurred before another action in the past 2.      An action that was expected to occur in the past	She had just left when I arrived there. I had hoped to get their decision before today.
Past Perfect Continuous Tense
1.      Expressing the duration of an activity that occurred before 2.      An action occurring recently before another action in the past	She had been competing for sic years before she tried out for the Olympics last year. He looked tired because he had been running for sic hours.
Future Perfect Tense
1.      An action that will be completed before a particular time in the future	By next June I will have participated in four Olympics

Future Perfect Continuous Tense
1.      Expressing the duration of time that has occurred before a specific time in the future.	By next May I will have been training at this gym for eleven years.

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