Tutorial 3: English Tenses
The following table shows the positive, negative and interrogative forms of all the basic tenses in English with a brief description of the principle usage and signal words.
One sentence is put into different tenses. You can see how the meaning changes.
| Tense | Affirmative/Negative/Question | Use | Signal Words |
| Simple present | A: He speaks.N- He does not speak. Q- Does he speak? |
action in the present taking place oncefactsactions taking place one after another | Always, every …, never, normally, often, seldom, sometimes,and usually. |
| Present Progressive | A: He is speaking. N: He is not speaking. Q: Is he speaking? |
action taking place in the moment of speakingaction arranged for the future | at the moment,just, just now,
now, right now |
| Simple Past | A: He spoke.N: He did not speak. Q: Did he speak? |
action in the past taking place once, actions taking place one after another | yesterday,2 minutes ago, in 1990, the other day, last Friday |
| Past Progressive | A: He was speaking. N: He was not speaking. Q: Was he speaking? |
action going on at a certain time in the pastaction in the past that is interrupted by another action | when, while,as long as |
| Present Simple Perfect | A: He has spoken. N: He has not spoken.Q: Has he spoken? |
putting emphasis on the resultaction that is still going on action that has an influence on the present | already, ever, just, never,
not yet, so far, till now |
| Present Perfect Progressive | A: He has been speaking. N: He has not been speaking. Q: Has he been speaking? |
putting emphasis on the course or duration (not the result) action that influenced the present | all day, for 4 years,
since 1993, how long?, the whole week |
| Past Perfect Simple | A: He had spoken. N: He had not spoken. Q: Had he spoken? |
action taking place before a certain time in the pastputting emphasis only on the fact (not the duration) | already, just,never, not yet,
once, until that day |
| Past Perfect Progressive | A: He had been speaking. N: He had not been speaking. Q: Had he been speaking? |
action taking place before a certain time in the pastputting emphasis on the duration or course of an action | for, since,the whole day,
all day |
| will-future | A: He will speak. N: He will not speak. Q: Will he speak? |
spontaneous decision assumption with regard to the future | in a year, next, tomorrow
assumption: I think, probably |
| going to-future | A: He is going to speak. N: He is not going to speak. Q: Is he going to speak? |
decision made for the futureconclusion with regard to the future | in one year, next week, tomorrow |
| Future Progressive | A: He will be speaking. N: He will not be speaking. Q: Will he be speaking? |
action that is going on at a certain time in the futureaction that is sure to happen in the near future | in one year, next week, tomorrow |
| Future Perfect | A: He will have spoken. N: He will not have spoken. Q: Will he have spoken? |
action that will be finished at a certain time in the future | by Monday, in a week |
| Conditional Simple | A: He would speak. N: He would not speak. Q: Would he speak? |
action that might take place | if sentencestype II (If I were you, I would go home.) |
| Conditional Progressive | A: He would be speaking. N: He would not be speaking. Q: Would he be speaking? |
action that might take placeputting emphasis on the course / duration of the action | |
| Conditional Perfect | A: He would have spoken. N: He would not have spoken. Q: Would he have spoken? |
action that might have taken place in the past | if sentences type III (If I had seen that, I would have helped.) |
| Conditional Perfect Progressive | A: He would have been speaking. N: He would not have been speaking. Q: Would he have been speaking? |
action that might have taken place in past puts emphasis on course / duration of the action |
Advertisement
