- •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.
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.
In Indirect speech the Future Cont. is replaced by the Future Cont.-in-the-Past (according to the rules of Sequence of Tenses).
The Future Perfect Tense.
The Future Perfect Tense is formed with the help of the Future Simple of the auxiliary verb to have and the Past Participle of the main verb.
Main Uses
The Future Perfect Tense denotes an action viewed as completed by a definite future moment or before another future action. With stative verbs it denotes an action lasting over a certain period of time up to the given future moment.
My sister will have left school by July.
She will have left school by the time I graduate from the University.
Kate will have been a student for half a year by March.
In Indirect Speech the Future Perfect is replaced by the Future Perfect-in-the-Past (according to the rules of Sequence of Tenses).
The Future Perfect Continuous (Progressive) Tense.
The Future Perfect Cont. (Progressive) Tense is formed with the help of the Future Perfect Tense of the auxiliary verb to be and the Present Participle of the main verb.
Main Uses
The Future Perfect Cont. (Progressive) Tense denotes an action lasting for a period of time up to or including a certain future moment. This moment can be indicated by an adverbial with the preposition (предлог) by or by another future action. The Future Perfect Cont. (and not the Future Perfect) is normally used to emphasize the process rather than the future result. As with all Cont. tenses the Future Perfect Cont. is not used with stative verbs which take the Future Perfect instead.
By the end of the year, they’ll have been working at this project for two years.
By late January Paul will have been talking his end-of-term exams for a month.
They are getting married next month. They will have known each other for a year by then.
In Indirect Speech the Future Perfect Cont. is replaced by the Future Perfect Cont.-in-the-Past (according to the rules of Sequence of Tenses).
Compare the Present Simple and The Present Cont. Tense.
Note: when the present moment is viewed as a broader period, the Present Cont. denotes a temporary (временный) action limited in its duration and contrasted to a permanent action associated with the Present Simple.
Compare, e.g.
Their married daughter is living in a rented house. (temporarily – not generally)
His parents live in Bath. (permanent residence)
The typical adverbials with the Present Cont. for a temporarily action are: currently, these days, at the time.
She is taking dancing classes currently.
Helen is seeing a lot more of them these days.
Compare the Present Perfect and The Present Perfect Cont. Tense.
Note: the meaning and the usage of the Present Perfect Cont. has much in common with the Present Perfect Simple. Both these tense-forms show the connection between the past and the present through the result of an activity. However, the Present Perfect Cont. focused on the action itself, presenting it as a continuous, extended activity. The Present Perfect Simple, on the other hand, emphasizes the idea of the completion of an action and importance of its result for the present.
Her feet are sore. She has been walking all morning.