Tenses cheatsheet(ENG), Cheat Sheet of English

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TENSES

Tense is the form taken by a verb to indicate

time and continuance or completeness of an

action or event.

Tenses are of three main types, viz. Present

Tense, Past Tense and Future Tense. Further,

each of these is sub-divided into four categories,

i.e., Simple Tense, Continuous Tense, Perfect

Tense and Perfect Continuous Tense.

Examples for facts:

• We belong to India.
• Sun sets in the west.
• The president of the USA lives in the White

House.

Examples for habits:

• They travel to their farmhouse every weekend.
• She brushes her teeth twice a day.
• I get up early every day.

Formation of Simple Present Tense

• The first person (I) takes the first form of verb like- I go and

we work there, etc.

• The second person (You) takes the first form of verb like- You

come and You run, etc.

• In the third person singular number, the verb always ends

with 's' like- He wants, She gives, Nina thinks, Ravi runs, etc.

In case the verb is ending with 'y', it changes to 'ies' like- She

flies and He cries, etc.

• In the third person plural number, the first form of verb is

used like- They come, Children play, etc.

Examples:

• You are not watching the game.
• She is not sitting over there.
• I am not going to the meeting after work. The Present Continuous Tense is also used in questions. Examples:
• Is he laughing? Are you coming?
• Are they listening to the teacher?

(3) Present Perfect Tense It is used to indicate the completion of an activity or an action that occurred at some point in the past. Though, the time of the action is not exactly known, this tense is mostly used to refer to actions completed in the immediate past (not a very long time ago). Examples:

• I have eaten my meal.
• I have finished cooking.
• He has bought a car.

(4) Present Perfect Continuous Tense It is used for an action which started in the past and is continuing at the present time. A time reference is also used in the sentence to show the time of action. The specific words 'since' and 'for' are used to show the time of action. 'Since' is used to refer to a point of time since Sunday, since 6 A.M., etc., 'For' is used to express the duration of time for 10 days, for six months, etc.

The auxiliary verbs 'have been' or 'has been' is used depending upon the subject of the sentence. If the subject of the sentence is 'She, He, It or a singular noun' then the auxiliary verb 'has been' is used and if the subject of the sentence is 'They, You or a plural noun' then the auxiliary verb 'have been' is used. Sentence Structure: Subject + Have been / Has been + Present Participle (verb + ing) + (Object) + Time- reference

(II) Past Tense It expresses an action, event or state in the past. (1) Simple Past Tense It is used to talk about a completed action in a time before now. The time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past. Examples:

• He went home yesterday.
• The work was finished on 4th June.
• She worked in a sugar factory.
• My father believed in superstitions.
• The steamer sailed yesterday.
• He went home some time back.
• She used to carry an umbrella.

(2) Past Continuous Tense It is used to mention an ongoing action of the past or an action that continued for sometime in the past. It is also known as Past Progressive Tense. In these sentences, 1st form of the verb + ing and auxiliary verbs 'was' or 'were' is used depending upon the subject of the sentence. If the subject of the sentence is 'I, She, He or a singular noun then the auxiliary verb 'was' is used and if the subject of the sentence is 'You, we, They or a plural noun then the auxiliary verb 'were' is used.

(3) Past Perfect Tense It is used to show that something happened before another action in the past or simply, to express two actions that happened in the past. In this case, it is important to use the connecting words like when, before, because, etc., correctly to show which action/event happened earlier than the other. Examples:

• I had done my homework when Hari came to see me.
• They lost many games because they had not practised enough.
• You had studied French before you moved to Italy.
• When I reached the station, the train had departed.
• I had just gone out when it started raining.

(4) Past Perfect Continuous Tense It is used to show an action/event that began before a certain point of time in the past and was continuing at the given point of time in the sentence. The sentence includes a 'time-reference' with 'since' and 'for' to show when the action started in past or for how long the action continued in the past. Sentence structure: Subject + Had been + Present Participle + (Object) + Time-reference

(III) Future Tense It expresses an action/event that has not yet happened or a state that does not yet exist. (1) Simple Future Tense It is used to express an action that will occur or happen in the future. Examples:

• I will buy a laptop at the end of this month.
• We will shift to a new apartment the next week.
• My father will buy me a bicycle on my birthday.
• He will leave for Canada day after tomorrow.
• She will get admission in a new school.

(2) Future Continuous Tense It is used to express an on-going or continued action which will occur at some time in the future. In these sentences, the first form of the verb + ing is used along with the auxiliary verbs 'will be or 'shall be’. Examples:

• He will be singing a song for the audience.
• I shall be reading the paper then.
• He will be meeting us next week.
• I will be writing a report.