Tenses in English Grammar with Examples

Hello readers, Welcome to Edify English. In this article, ‘Tenses in English Grammar with examples’, I am going to discuss on one of the most important topics in English Grammar – Tense. With lot of examples on each tense, this article will help you understand this fundamental topic in detail.

Derived from the Latin Word TEMPUS (time), Tense talks about the time of an action. Based on that, we have three tenses.

Based on the fulfillment of the action, Each tense is further divided into four forms.

Simple – Nothing is said about the fulfillment of an action
Continuous / Progressive -Action is Incomplete / continuous at the time of speaking
Perfect – Action is finished at the time of speaking
Perfect Continuous – Action started previously and is going on for some time (time expression)

Thus in total there are 12 Tenses in English. They are,

Simple Present Tense
Present Continuous Tense
Present Perfect Tense
Present Perfect Continuous Tense
Simple Past Tense
Past Continuous Tense
Past Perfect Tense
Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Simple Future Tense
Future Continuous Tense
Future Perfect Tense
Future Perfect Continuous Tense

The above are the 12 tenses in English Grammar. Lets see each of them in detail

1. Simple Present Tense

Structure: Subject+V1+Object
Example: I eat an apple

Read this for more examples of Simple Present Tense in various forms

2. Present Continuous

Structure: Subject+ Is/am/are + V1 + ing + Object
Example: I am eating an apple

Read this for more examples of Simple Present Tense in various forms

3. Present Perfect

Structure: Subject + have/has + V3 + Object
Example: I have eaten an apple

Read this for more examples of Present Perfect Tense in various forms

4. Present Perfect Continuous

Structure: Subject + has/have + been + V1 + ing + Object
Example: I have been eating an apple

Read this for more examples of Present Perfect Continuous Tense in various forms

5. Simple Past

Structure: Subject + V2 + Object
Example: I ate an apple

Read this for more examples of Simple Past Tense in various forms

6. Past Continuous

Structure: Subject + was/were + V1 + ing + Object
Example: I was eating an apple

Read this for more examples of Past Continuous Tense in various forms

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7. Past Perfect

Structure: Subject + had + V3 + Object
Example: I had eaten an apple

Read this for more examples of Past Perfecct Tense in various forms

8. Past Perfect Continuous

Structure: Subject + had + been + V1 + ing + Object
Example: I had been eating an apple

Read this for more examples of Past Perfect Continuous Tense in various forms

9. Simple Future

Structure: Subject + will/shall+ V1 + Object
Example: I shall eat an apple

Read this for more examples of Simple Future Tense in various forms

10. Future Continuous

Structure: Subject + will/shall + be + V1 + ing + Object
Example: I shall be eating an apple

Read this for more examples of Simple Future Tense in various forms

11. Future Perfect

Structure: Subject + will/shall+ have + V3 + Object
Example: I shall have eaten an apple

Read this for more examples of Simple Future Tense in various forms

12. Future Perfect Continuous

Structure: Subject + will/shall + have + been + V1 + ing + Object
Example: I shall have been eating an apple

Read this for more examples of Simple Future Tense in various forms.

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Tenses in English Grammar

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Tenses in English Grammar with Examples

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