English Grammar - The tenses

One sentence is put into different tenses. You can see how the meaning changes. The words in green are signal words. They tell you which tense you have to use. Tense Simple Present Present Progressive Simple Past Past Progressive Present Perfect Present Perfect Progressive Past Perfect Example Explanation

I play football every week. Here you want to say that it happens regularly. I'm playing football now. I played football yesterday. I was playing football the whole evening. I have just played football. I have been playing football for 2 hours. Here you want to say that it is happening at the moment. You did it yesterday, it happened in the past. You were doing it in the past. It's not sure whether the action was finished or not. You have just finished it. So it has a connection to the present. Maybe your clothes are dirty. You want to say how long you have been doing it. (You started in the past and it continues up to the present. The two actions are related to each other: you had finished to play football and after that the girl arrived. Here you want to point out how long you had been doing it before the girl came. This is a prediction, you can probably do something else.

I had played football before Susan came. Past Perfect I had been playing football Progressive when Susan came. I will play football next will-future week. going toI'm going to play football This is a plan you've made. future this afternoon. Future I will be playing football You do it every Sunday (as usual) Progressive next Sunday. I will have played football Future Perfect You will have done it before tomorrow. by tomorrow. Conditional I would play football. You'll probably do it. Simple Conditional You'll probably do it. Here you concentrate more on I would be playing football. Progressive the progress of the action. You'll probably have finished playing football at a Conditional I would have played special time in the future. Here you concentrate on Perfect football. the fact (football). Conditional You'll probably have finished playing football at a I would have been playing Perfect special time in the future. Here you concentrate on football. Progressive the progress of playing (football).

Negations of the sentences

Example I do not play football every week. Simple Present I don't play football every week. I am not playing football now. Present Progressive I'm not playing football now. I did not play football yesterday. Simple Past I didn't play football yesterday. I was not playing football yesterday. Past Progressive I wasn't playing football yesterday. I have not played football. Present Perfect I haven't played football. I've not played football. I have not been playing football. Present Perfect Progressive I haven't been playing football. I've not been playing football. I had not played football. Past Perfect I hadn't played football. I'd not played football. I had not been playing football. Past Perfect Progressive I hadn't been playing football. I'd not been playing football. I will/shall not play football next week. will-future I won't play football next week. I am not going to play football this afternoon. going to-future I'm not going to play football this afternoon. I will/shall not be playing football. Future Progressive I won't be playing football. I will/shall not have played football. Future Perfect I won't have played football. I would not play football. Conditional Simple I'd not play football. I would not be playing football. Conditional Progressive I wouldn't be playing football. I'd not be playing football. I would not have played football. Conditional Perfect I wouldn't have played football. I'd not have played football. I would not have been playing football. Conditional Perfect Progressive I wouldn't have been playing football. I'd not have been playing football. Tense

Questions
Tense Simple Present Present Progressive Simple Past Past Progressive Present Perfect Present Perfect Progressive Past Perfect Past Perfect Progressive will-future going to-future Future Progressive Future Perfect Conditional Simple Conditional Progressive Conditional Perfect Conditional Perfect Progressive Example Do you play football? Are you playing football? Did you play football? Were you playing football? Have you played football? Have you been playing football? Had you played football? Had you been playing football? Will you play football? Are you going to play football? Will you be playing football? Will you have played football? Would you play football? Would you be playing football? Would you have played football? Would you have been playing football?

Time

Subject I They My friend

Verb have play is swimming watches

Object breakfast handball TV

Place in the kitchen. in the gym in the pool. at home.

Time every Monday.

Every Saturday

Peter

- Expressions of time can be put at the beginning or the end of a statement. - At the end of the sentence: Place before Time - NEVER put Place or Time between Verb and Object

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Words
Choose the correct adjective for each sentence. durable / gratifying / puerile / evident / inevitable / formidable / mediocre / balanced / coarse / crucial

1. It is important to eat a _____ diet. 2. Camping gear should be strong and _____. 3. If you don't study at all, failure is _____. 4. The service was excellent, but the food was _____, unfortunately. 5. His behavior was not appropriate for an adult. It was _____. 6. Her tennis opponent was small but proved to be _____. 7. Helping others is a _____ experience. 8. His table manners were rather _____ and unrefined. 9. In surgery, precision is absolutely _____. 10. It was _____ by her test results that she studied hard.

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Idioms Choose the correct idiom for each sentence. give [someone] a call / burst out crying / burst out laughing / get the better of [someone] / serve [someone] right / show up / drive up to / check up on / clear up / fade away / keep up 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. I should _____ Frank today. He's been sick all week. She _____ when she heard the joke. I'll _____ you _____ after work. Hopefully this skin rash will _____ soon. If you don't _____ for your test, you will fail. The sirens slowly _____ into the distance. Because he never exercised, he had trouble _____ with the other players. 8. When he heard the terrible news, he _____. 9. He let his opponent _____ him. 10. It _____ him _____ that he was fired. He was a lazy worker.

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