English Grammar Tenses Rules With Examples PDF

English Grammar Tenses Rules

What is Tenses? 

A tense is a form taken by a verb that signifies time and the continuity or completeness of a verb. Continuity or completion of the action is represented by four subcategories.

We divide the tenses into three parts:- 

- Past Tense (e.g., I walked.)
- Present Tense (e.g., I walk.)
- Future Tense (e.g., I will walk.)

The three categories are further divided into four sub-categories:-

(i) Indeterminate / Simple
(ii) Continuous
(iii) Perfect
(iv) Perfect continuous

The Past Tenses

(i) Simple Past Tense - The past simple tense is used to describe completed activities that have occurred in the past.

(ii) Past Progressive Tense - Past progressive tense is used to describe current activities in the past. It is often used to set up a scene for another action.

(iii) Past Perfect Tense - Past perfect tense is used to emphasize that an action was completed before another occurred.

(iv) Past Perfect Progressive Tense - Past perfect progressive tense is used to indicate that the current action in the past has ended.

The Present Tenses

(i) Simple Present Tense - Simple present is mainly used to describe facts and habits.

(ii) Present Progressive Tense - Present progressive tense is used for ongoing action in the present.

(iii) Present Perfect Tense - Present Perfect Tense is used for actions that started in the past. (Often the action continues to this day.)

(iv) Present Perfect Progressive Tense - Present perfect progressive tense is used for continuous activities that started in the past and continue in the present, or for continuous activities that began in the past but have now ended (usually very recently).

The Future Tenses

(i) Simple Future Tense - Simple future tense is used to indicate an action that will occur in the future.

(ii) Future Progressive Tense - Future progressive tense is used to indicate current action that will occur in the future.

(iii) Future Perfect Tense - Future perfect tense is used to describe an action that will be completed at some point in the future.

(iv) Future Perfect Progressive Tense - Future perfect progressive tense is used for an ongoing action that will be completed at a specified time in the future.

 

 

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