The Future: will

We use the will future when we make a decision at the moment about future.

I/you/he/she/it/we/they will go (I’ll. He’ll, they’ll go)

Question		Short answer
	Will you go? He’ll go, won’t he? Where will you work?		Yes I will. No I won’t. Yes he will. No he won’t.
Negative
	I will not do it. (I won’t do it) He will not come. (He won’t come)

Past Simple Tense

We use the Past Simple Tense to tell stories about the past. We also use it when the time something happened in the past is known or important.

Positive (regular verbs)

I/you/she/he/it/we/they worked in Manchester from 1978 to 1982.

The question, short answer and negative are made with the past tense of the verb to do.

Question		Short answer
	Did you type it yesterday? He made it, didn’t he? Where did he go on Monday?		Yes I did. No I didn’t. Yes he did. No he didn’t.
Negative
	I didn’t do it. He didn’t make it.

See also the list of irregular verbs below.

Infinitive (present)	Past Simple	Past Participle
Be (am/is/are) Bring Deal Do Drink Eat Get Give	Was/were Brought Dealt Did Drank Ate Got Gave	Been Brought Dealt Done Drunk Eaten Got Given

Present Perfect Tense

We use the Present Perfect for a past action, which has an effect on the present. What happened and its effect on the present is more important than the time it happened (when the time in the past is important we use the Past Simple). The Present Perfect is made with the present tense of the verb have + Past Participle.

Positive She has already typed the report. I know about Rome because I’ve been there.

Question Have you done it yet? Where have you been?

Negative They have not come yet. He has never been there.

Short answer Yes I have. No he hasn’t.

Present Perfect Progressive Tense

(also called the Present Perfect Continuous)

The Present Perfect Progressive is used for actions or states which began in the past and which are still happening. It is formed from the Present tense of have+been+verb-ing.

Positive He has been waiting since three o’clock.

We have been selling oil to Veland for 20 years.

Question Have you been waiting long?

How long have you been waiting?

Negative I haven’t been waiting long.

Short answer Yes I have. No he hasn’t.

Certain verbs already contain the idea of progression or continuity eg. be, own, possess, know. These verbs are not usually used in the Progressive Tenses, so we say "I’ve owned the house since 1973".

The two common verbs live and work can be used with either the progressive or the simple tense, so "I’ve lived/worked in London for 10 years" and "I’ve been living/working in London for 10 years" are equally acceptable.

Present Perfect Progressive Tense

We use the Past Perfect for a past action prior to the other past action. The Past Perfect is made with the past tense of the verb have + Past Participle.

We arrived at the airport after the plane had taken off.

Exercise 1. Past Perfect Tense

Anne passed her exams and then she left school. After that she went to secretarial college and then she worked in a bank. Later she lived in London and finally she moved to Manchester and got a job with Transworld.

In pairs, discuss Anne’s life, like this:

P: Had Anne left school before she passed her exams?

R: No. She’d passed her exams before she left school.

or No. She left school after she’d passed her exams.

Laboratory drill

P: Had Anne left school before she passed her exams?

R: No. She’d passed her exams before she left school.

P: Did Anne pass her exams after she’d left school?

R: No. She left school after she’d passed her exams.

Exerise 2. More about the Past Perfect

Decide which of these events happened before the other and combine the sentences using the Past Perfect, like this:

GLM sent the invoice. GLM sent the goods.

GLM sent the invoice after they had sent the goods.

1. BOS received the order. BOS sent the goods.

2. BOS sent the statement. Transworld received the goods.

3. Anne received the goods. Anne paid the pro-forma invoice.

4. Mr Perez received the goods by air. Mr Perez sent an order.

5. Transworld received the statement. Transworld paid BOS.

6. Kevin received the order. Kevin made out the Bill of Lading.

REVIEW OF TENSES

Exercise 3. Fill the correct tense:

Example: (make)

So far this morning you have made ten phone calls.

(have)	I usually _____ lunch at noon.
(retire)	Mr. Benton _____next month.
(leave)	The secretary _____the office an hour ago.
(watch)	We _____ a good NV show now; can you call back later?
(have)	Joan _____ the same job for six years now.
(listen)	We _____ to the radio when the phone rang.
(listen)	We _____ to the radio for an hour now.
(finish)	I _____typing the memos tomorrow.
(dial)	The line was busy, so I _____ the number a few minutes later.
(meet)	Right now the salesmen _____ in the manager’s office.
(double)	Our costs _____ since five years ago.
(take)	The director always _____ the right decisions.
(talk)	Mrs. Lewis called while you _____ on another line.
(start)	Laura _____ working for this company last year.
(sit)	We _____ in this waiting room for almost an hour now.

Exercise 4. Fill in the correct tenses of the italicized verb:

	Yesterday the director called his wife. He _____ her every day. He _____ her right now. He _____ her tomorrow.
	I go to the movies every Saturday evening. Next Saturday I _____ to the movies. Last Saturday I _____ to the movies. I’m in my car now. I _____ to the movies.
	The secretary works from Monday till Friday. It’s Wednesday evening. So far this week end she _____ three days. Next week she _____ five days. Last week she _____ five days.
	Mr. Jennings is waiting outside the director’s office. He _____ there when I came in this morning. He _____ there since then. He _____ there now to talk with the director.
	I eat breakfast at about 7:30 in the morning. It’s 8:30 a.m. I _____ breakfast already. I _____ breakfast an hour ago. I _____ lunch in about four hours.