English Grammar

Simple Present Present Progressive Simple Past

Past Progressive Future Tense Present Perfect Past Perfect
Present Perfect Progressive
1. Simple Present :
He sleeps every day. It doesn’t snow in here.
Babies cry. Birds fly. The Simple
Present Tense expresses daily habits or usual activities.

2. Present Progressive :
He is sleeping. The baby is crying.
The bird is flying. I am running.
The Present Progressive Tense expresses an activity that is
happening right now, in the moment of speaking.

3. Simple past :
He slept yesterday. The baby cried 5 minutes ago.
I ran yesterday. I went to Italy before.
The Simple Past Tense expresses an activity that began
and ended in the past.

4. Past Progressive :
I was eating dinner when Eric came.
I was sleeping when the phone rang.
The Past Progressive Tense expresses an activity that was
happening at a point of time.

5. Future Tense :
There are forms with :
1. Be going to 2. Will 3. Be about to
4. Using Simple Present Tense to express future time.

1. Be going to ----- I am going to school tomorrow.

2. Will ----- Okay! I will go to school tomorrow.
Be going to and Will are used to express Future Tense.
1. Be going to is used to express a prior plan, a plan
made before the moment of speaking.
 2. Will is used to express a decision that the speaker
makes at the moment of speaking.
3. Be about to ------ He is about to go to sleep.
4. Using Simple Present Tense to express future time -----
1. My plane arrives at 7:30 tomorrow evening.
2. Eric’s new job starts next week.
3. The semester ends in 2 more weeks.

6. Present Perfect :
I have finished my work.
He has eaten his dinner.
I have not finished my work.
Ann has already eaten her dinner.
The Present Perfect Tense expresses an activity or
situation that occurred (or didn’t occurred) before now, or
some unspecific time in the past.
Ex : In the last form ----
Ann’s dinner happened before the present time. The
exact time is not mentioned; It is unimportant or unknown.
For the speaker, the only important information is that
Ann’s dinner happened in the past, sometime before now.

7. Past Perfect :
Eric had left his apartment when Betty arrived.
I had already eaten when Eric came.
The Past Perfect Tense expresses an activity that occurred
before another time in the past, an activity that was
completed before a particular time in the past.

8. Present Perfect Progressive :

They have been driving since 2:00.
They have been driving for 2 hours. They should be here now.
How long have they been driving ?
He has been sitting in class since 9:00.
He has been sitting in class for 3 hours.
The Present Perfect Progressive Tense expresses the
duration of an activity that began in the past and is in
progress right now.

Simple Past V.S Present Perfect

A. Simple Past --- I finished my work 2 hours ago.
B. Present Perfect --- I have already finished my work.
In A, there is a specific time(2 hours ago ).

In B, I finished my work at an unspecific time in the

past(sometime before now).