- •Present Simple Tense.
- •Habitual or repeated actions.
- •It doesn’t often snow in winter here.
- •In May 1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman Prime Minister in the history of Great Britain.
- •I’ll phone you as soon as I come back home.
- •I don’t know where we are going.
- •It’s raining all day.
- •Actions or states having a dynamic character (changing and developing situations).
- •I’m leaving at the end of the week.
- •I’m going to explore the neighbourhood.
- •I’m feeling fine.
- •Past Simple (Indefinite) Tense.
- •I felt very happy in those days.
- •Repeated, habitual past actions or states.
- •Past Continues (Progressive) Tense.
- •I looked out of the window. The sun was shining and the birds were singing.
- •In those days he was always borrowing money and forgetting to pay it back.
- •I was wondering if you’d like to come out with me one evening.
- •I picked up a cake and bit a piece off to see how it tasted.
- •The Present Perfect Tense.
- •Actions completed in the past but connected in their result with the present:
- •I have only recently sent her an invitation.
- •I’ve done a lot of work today.
- •It’s one of the most boring books I’ve ever read.
- •I haven’t heard anything from him since he moved to Leeds.
- •I’ve never tasted papaya.
- •The Present Perfect Continuous (Progressive) Tense.
- •I am learning English at High School. I have been learning English for 6 years. (period of duration)
- •The Past Perfect Tense.
- •The Past Perfect Tense is used to denote a past action completed before another past action or before a moment in the past.
- •I knew the Horns had been married for nearly fifty years.
- •I was sure they had known each other since childhood.
- •The Past Perfect Continuous (Progressive) Tense.
- •It was clear they had long known each other.
- •The Future Simple (Indefinite) Tense.
- •The Future Continuous (Progressive) Tense.
- •To denote a future action which is part of a regular routine (a matter-of-course event), which does not need any special arrangement.
- •I’ll be passing the post-office on my way home from work, so I’ll buy you a newspaper.
- •The Future Perfect Tense.
- •Compare the Present Simple and The Present Cont. Tense.
- •Compare the Present Perfect and The Present Perfect Cont. Tense.
- •I have planted a lot of new rose bushes.
Past Continues (Progressive) Tense.
The Past Continues Tense is formed with the help of the auxiliary was/were and the Present Participle (причастие, деепричастие) of the main verb.
Main Uses
The Past Continues (Progressive) Tense is used to denote:
Actions in progress at a definite moment in the past or during a definite period of time in the past.
What were you doing at 1 p.m. yesterday? – I was having lunch with my friend.
She was working as a teacher that summer.
The past moment or period can be either indicated by an adverbial phrase (at 2 p.m., at that time yesterday, from 2 till 5, all evening, the whole day, in the afternoon, between 1 and 2, etc.).
I looked out of the window. The sun was shining and the birds were singing.
An action in progress at a particular moment in the past can be interrupted by a shorter action (a single event) expressed by the Past Simple. The longer background action (the Past Continues) is then introduced by the conjunctions (связка, соединение) when, while, as.
As/when/while my dad was painting the ceiling he split some paint on the floor.
Note that when can be used with either the shorter or the longer action.
John arrived when I was cooking supper.
When John arrived I was cooking supper.
There can be situations with two parallel, simultaneous past actions in progress. In such cases both these actions are expressed by the Past Continues or by the Past Simple or there is a combination of the Past Continues with the Past Simple (or vice versa).
While John was sitting (sat) doing nothing, I was working out (worked out) a plan to get us home.
When the actions are not simultaneous, i.e. when one action happened after the other, only the Past Simple is used for both the verbs.
When the teacher came, we wrote a dictation.
Past actions of unusual frequency to convey (передать, выразить) a feeling of annoyance, irritation, or criticism with adverbials of permanence like always, constantly (compare a similar use of the Present Continues).
In those days he was always borrowing money and forgetting to pay it back.
Reported present-time actions in progress (according to the rules of Sequence – последовательность, порядок, of Tenses).
Direct Speech – Ann asked: ‘Is Jane talking on the telephone?’
Indirect (Reported) Speech – Ann asked if Jane was talking on the telephone.
A polite request (просьба) or suggestion in the expressions of the type ‘I was wondering’ in situations referring to the present.
I was wondering if you’d like to come out with me one evening.
Although the Past Continuous as well as the Present Continuous is not used with stative verbs, the continuous tense is possible when these verbs denote a mental process.
He didn’t understand who they were talking about.
I picked up a cake and bit a piece off to see how it tasted.
When I looked out of the window I saw that we were flying over the ocean.
The Present Perfect Tense.
The Present Perfect Tense is formed with the help of the auxiliary have/has and the Past Participle (причастие, деепричастие) of the main verb.
Main Uses
The Present Perfect Tense is used to denote: