EF 2/3 Verb tenses

Verb tenses

Essential verb tenses- most important verb tenses

simple present- everyday, always do, habitual action

HIGH FREQUENCY

e.g. “I eat breakfast.  She drinks coffee. He goes to school.”

simple past- once in past, finished, completed action

HIGH FREQUENCY

e.g. “She read the book.  He mowed the lawn.  We wrote the test.”

simple future- “will” modal, once in future

HIGH FREQUENCY

e.g. “She will call her sister.  The repairman will fix the washing machine.  He will go to Japan.”

present progressive/ continuous- “ing” going on, happening now

need auxiliary verb is going, are studying

HIGH FREQUENCY

e.g. “She is driving her car.  He is reading a book.  We are cycling in Richmond.”

past progressive

LESS HIGH FREQUENCY?

e.g “She was reading a book.  She was driving her car.”

future progressive

LOW FREQUENCY

e.g. “We will be driving to North Vancouver.  We will drive to North Vancouver.”

present perfect- past until now, common to add a time indicator either with prepositional phrase or adverb clause, etc

HIGH FREQUENCY

e.g. “I have lived in Vancouver since 2001.  She has studied English for 15 years.  He has been married since he came to Canada in 1990.”

past perfect- started in past, finished in past.  Substitute simple past with time indicator.

LOW FREQUENCY

e.g. “I had lived in Japan for 2 years.  I lived in Japan for two years.  She had worked at Apple from 1998 to 2006.  She worked at Apple from 1998 to 2006.

future perfect- will start in future, will finish in future.  Substitute simple future with time indicator

LOW FREQUENCY

“I will have finished my school work by six o’clock.  I will finish my school work by six o’clock.”

present perfect progressive- sounds lively, active, energetic

HIGH FREQUENCY

e.g. “He has been waiting for 45 minutes.  She has been studying English for 10 years.  Have you been living here long?”

past perfect progressive- substitute past progressive

LOW FREQUENCY

e.g. “She had been waiting for two hours.  She was waiting for two hours.”

future perfect progressive

FORGET IT

e.g. “He will have been working for 10 hours.”