ENGLISH HANDOUTS

Grade 11
TOPIC: TENSES
- A form of a verb used to show /explains / communicate time when the action took place,
as well as how long it occurred, this can be, the past, present, or future.
❖ For instance, "she goes" is the present tense of the verb "to go," but "she went" is
the past tense of the same.
There are three main types or forms of tenses in the English language, namely, past, present,
and future. Each of these tenses can take four main aspects: simple, perfect, and continuous
(also known as progressive), and perfect continuous.
Past Present Future
Simple I helped my neighbor I help my neighbor I will help my neighbor
yesterday. every day. tomorrow.
Perfect I had helped my I have helped my I will have helped my
neighbor clean his attic neighbor too much this neighbor a hundred
before I fixed his car. week. times by the end of the
month.
Continuous I was helping my I am helping my I will be helping my
neighbor when he neighbor while he fixes neighbor next month
brought me iced tea. up his house when he moves.
Perfect continuous I had been helping my I have been helping my I will have been
neighbor for a year neighbor since I moved helping my neighbor
before he finally in for a year next month.
thanked me.

1. PRESENT TENSE

The present tense refers to the action or event that takes place or is taking place now (in the
present). It represents the current activity or the present state of being of the subject in the given
context.

The present tense can be used in four different forms, namely,

A. Simple Present Tense – used to indicate the current action or an action that takes place
regularly.

The structure of the sentence in this case it will as follows: Subject + Verb in the base
form/third person plural form + the rest of the sentence

E.g. Matthew sings wonderfully.

 B. Present Continuous Tense – used to denote an action that is continuing at the present
moment. Present continuous tense is also generally used to talk about an action that is
progressively taking place in the present. The main verb usually end with “ing”

The structure of the sentence in this case it will as follows: Subject + am/is/are +
present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence.

E.g. Mr. Kwandu is teaching

C. Present Perfect Tense – used to indicate an action that is used to denote an action that is
indefinite and still has its effect on the subject or object in the sentence. The present
perfect tense is used to represent actions or events that have started and completed in the
recent past and still have its effect in the present.

Structure and Formula of the Present Perfect Tense: Subject + have/has + past
participle + the rest of the sentence

For example: Mr. Kwandu has worked as an English teacher for two years.

D. Present Perfect Continuous Tense – used to represent an action that began in the recent
past and is still continuing.

The structure of the sentence in this case it will as follows: Subject + have/has + been +
present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence.

For example: Mr. Kwandu has been working as an English teacher for two years.

(Mr. Kwandu )Subject + have/has + been + (the verb working) present participle
(verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence.

Structure of Present Tense

Have a look at the following table to understand the structure of the present tense.

Simple Present Tense Present Continuous Present Perfect Tense Present Perfect
Tense Continuous Tense
Subject + Verb in the base Subject + Helping Subject + Helping Verb Subject + Have/Has +
form/third person plural Verb(am/is/are) + Main (have/has) + Past Been + Verb+ing + the
form + the rest of the verb+ing + the rest of the participle of the main rest of the sentence
sentence sentence verb + the rest of the
sentence along with the
time frame
Example: I go to school Example: Magano is example: Maria has left Example: They have been
every day. watching a movie. the hall waiting for you for a long
time.
He plays cricket. They are planning a I have reached home.
birthday party for their Kachana has been
friend. checking her phone every
now and then.

2. Past Tense

The past tense form of a verb, used to speak about or communicate an event or action that
already happened in the past.

Types of Past Tense

The past tense has four different forms to indicate the varied nature of actions that happened in
the past. They are:

A. Simple Past Tense – used to indicate an action or event that happened in the past. the
form of a verb used to describe an action that happened before the present time and is
no longer happening.

The simple past tense is formed by adding a suffix ‘ed’ For example: Reach – reached, kick –
kicked, walk – walked, confess – confessed, work –worked

or suffix ‘d’ For example: Like – liked, introduce – introduced, force – forced, announce –
announced, notice – noticed to the end of the base verb.

There are other verbs which behave differently, some takes different spellings when used in the
simple past form. For example: Buy – bought, think – thought, draw – drew, drink – drank, see –
saw.

While some verbs take the same spelling as the base verb and remain the same in the past tense.
For example: Cut – cut, put – put, hurt – hurt, set – set, hit – hit

Structure for simple Past Tense is as follows: Subject + Verb + ed / verb in the past
tense + the rest of the sentence

B. Past Continuous Tense – used to depict an action or event that was continuing in the
past. The past continuous tense is used to describe events or actions that have already
occurred in the past. It's employed to describe any action which has happened in the
past. Is also used for habitual actions that occurred in the past but not in the present.
Here is the formula with which you can structure a sentence in the past continuous tense. A
sentence that is in a past continuous tense have the following: Subject + helping verb was/were
+ present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence.

For example:

• The kite was flying in the sky.

• I was watching TV.

• We were sleeping.
• She wasn’t eating her lunch.

This means that; Subject (The kite) + was/were + present participle (flying) + the rest of the
sentence (in the sky).

C. Past Perfect Tense – used to represent an event or action that happened in the past
before another event or action that happened in the past. NB: “the tense used to talk
about actions or behaviour that were begun and ended at some time in the past”,

Structural formula: Subject + Helping Verb (had) + Past participle of the main verb +
the rest of the sentence along with the time frame

Examples:

• He had gone when she became ill.

• She had not lived in New York.
• They had not been married long when I was born.

D. Past Perfect Continuous Tense – used to denote an action or event that was taking
place in the past until another action or event happened in the past. It describes
ongoing actions that happened in the past (more than once) instead of a one-time
occurrence.

For example;

• I had been living on my parent’s house for a year until they kicked me out.

• We had been playing games for 6 hours when Dad came home.
• She had been reading magazines for 1 month before she decided to apply for the job.
• Had she been washing dishes all day?

Note: Understanding the formula of the past perfect continuous tense can help you and make
everything easy.
 Below is the formula that you can use when you write a sentence using the past perfect
continuous tense.

Subject + had + been + present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence

Structure of Past Tense

Simple Past Tense Past Continuous Tense Past Perfect Tense Past Perfect
Continuous Tense
Subject + Verb + ed / verb in the Subject + Helping Subject + Helping Subject + Had + Been
past tense + the rest of the sentence Verb(was/were) + Verb (had) + Past + Verb + ing + the rest
Main verb + ing + the participle of the main of the sentence
rest of the sentence verb + the rest of the
sentence along with the
time frame
For example: Nathan met me at the For example: It was For example: Tony had For example: Sharon
park. raining. eaten his dinner before had been practicing the
we reached the venue. guitar when the teacher
called for him.

3. Future Tense

The future tense is a verb tense used to describe an event or action that has not yet happened and
is expected to happen in the future.

A few examples of the future tense are given below:

• Natangwe will write a song for the sectionals.

• My Dad will be coming home for the holidays.
• John will have left work by now.

Forms of the Future Tense

Just like the two tenses above the future tense can be used in four different forms in order to
show how the actions in the future behave differently in various situations, and they are:

A. Simple Future Tense – used to indicate/represent an action that will happen in the
future. The form of a verb that expresses what will happen after the present.

Example:
• I will go to school.
• I will be back.
• `He will ride a bike
Let us look at the structure and formula of the simple future tense. First, take a look at the
formula to find out how the simple future tense works.

The formula of the simple future tense is as follows:

Subject + Helping verb (will) + base form of the verb + the rest of the sentence

B. Future Continuous Tense – used to indicate an action that will be taking place in the
future.

The future continuous tense is generally used to represent an event or action that will be
happening at a certain point in time in the future. The tense is also called the future
progressive tense, as it denotes an action or event that is progressing or continuing at a
particular time in the future

Example:

• He will be coming to visit us next week.

• She will be watching TV.
• He will be writing a letter to Mary.

To have a more detailed idea of the future continuous tense, take a look at the formula and
structure of the tense.

The formula of the future continuous tense is as follows:

Subject + Helping verbs (will + be) + present participle form of the verb + the rest of the
sentence

C. Future Perfect Tense – used to represent an action that starts in the present and will
happen in the future. The future perfect tense, is defined also as the form of the verb that
is used to show that an action will have been performed by a particular time.

The future perfect tense is a tense form that can be used to represent an action or event
that will be over within a particular time in the future. The action referred to in the future
perfect tense mostly has an end date or time.

Examples:

• They will have finished the film before we get home.

• She will have cleaned the house by 9pm.
If you are wondering how to use the future perfect tense, here is the answer. Knowing the
general formula with which you can structure your sentences in the future perfect tense is what
will help you.

Here is the formula of the future perfect tense.

Subject + Helping verbs (will + have) + Past participle form of the main verb + the rest of
the sentence.

D. Future Perfect Continuous Tense – used to show an action that is happening in the
present and will complete at some point in the future.

Examples:

• He will have been studying hard for 2 weeks before the exam.
• By the time the alarm goes off, we will have been sleeping for 8 hours.

Here is the formula that you can use to structure a sentence in the future perfect
continuous tense.

Subject + Helping verbs (will + have + been) + Present participle form of the main
verb + the rest of the sentence

To conclude this topic about tenses, if you need to know in which tense is the sentence
you have to identify the verb tense

What are the different types of verb tenses?

The three main verb tenses are the past, present, and future, but there are also four grammatical
aspects: simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous. When you combine the three time
periods with the four aspects, you get twelve unique verb tenses.

What are some examples of the different verb tenses?

The simple tenses show actions happening at different times, while the perfect tenses show
completed actions that relate to different time periods. The continuous tenses are for ongoing
actions that take a while to complete. The perfect continuous tenses combine the perfect and
continuous tenses to describe ongoing actions that happen over a period of time

English tenses examples: verb tenses chart

 Past Present Future
Simple I helped my neighbor I help my neighbor I will help my neighbor
yesterday. every day. tomorrow.
Perfect I had helped my I have helped my I will have helped my
neighbor clean his attic neighbor too much this neighbor a hundred
before I fixed his car. week. times by the end of the
month.
Continuous I was helping my I am helping my I will be helping my
neighbor when he neighbor while he fixes neighbor next month
brought me iced tea. up his house when he moves.
Perfect continuous I had been helping my I have been helping my I will have been
neighbor for a year neighbor since I moved helping my neighbor
before he finally in for a year next month.
thanked me.
Practise Exercise

SECTION A Question 1

Directions For Question 1 to 20 – Given below are the statements with blanks. Complete the
following sentences using an appropriate tense form.

1. I ---------------------- for his reply since last 6. There --------------------- a famine in

week. Bengal in 1982.

a) had been waiting a) was

b) have been waiting b) were
c) am waiting c) has been
d) was d) had been

2. This time tomorrow, I ---------------------- 7. Janet ----------------------- home.

with my grandchildren.
a) went
a) will play b) has gone
b) will be playing c) had gone
c) am playing
8. It is 6 o'clock. She ----------------------
3. I -------------------- the newspaper every home.
morning.
a) will reach
a) read b) will have reached
b) will read c) is reaching
c) am reading d) reached
d) have read
9. She ---------------------- many awards for
4. When I visited her she --------------------- her contribution to classical music.
bed-ridden for six months.
a) won
a) had been b) has won
b) was c) had won
c) has been d) wins
d) were
10. I could ———————– her if I
5. I ------------------ in 2006. wanted to.

a) graduated a) have married

b) will graduate b) marry
c) had graduated c) married
d) would graduate d) be marrying
 Question 2

Using the structural formula of all the four main aspects tenses fill in the correct sentences in
table below.

Tenses Present Past Future

Simple a…………………………… He rode a bike b…………………………………………
…. ..
Continu He is riding a bike c........................................
He will be riding a bike
ous .........
Perfect He has ridden a bike d………………………… He will have ridden a bike
…….
Perfect e…………………………… He had been riding a bike He will have been riding a bike at 8 am
continuo …….................. since 8 am tomorrow
us

SECTION 2

QUESTIO A

Read the following sentences and identify the tense.

1. She has lived in this street for ten years. …………………………………………………

2. I finished the project yesterday. …………………………………………………………

3. What are you doing there? …………………………………………………………

4. She had not realized that…………………………………………………………………….

5. Susan will be joining us……………………………………………………………..

6. Have you ever been to Australia? ………………………………………………………….

7. This house had been destroyed by the fire. ………………………………………………..

8. The boys were severely reprimanded by their teacher. ………………………………………..

9. She will come with us. ……………………………………………………………

10. By this time tomorrow, I will have finished working on it……………………………………

.
 QUESTION B

Fill in the blanks with appropriate tense forms.

1. New techniques …………………………. (are helping / were helping / helps) scientists to

predict how, when, and where major hurricanes ……………………… (will / would / could)
occur.

2. Even when scientists ……………………… (can / may / will) figure out where a storm is
headed, winds can change at the last minute, ………………………. (carries / carrying / carry)
the storm in a new direction.

3. Scientists ……………………………. (predict / predicts / predicted) hurricanes with the help

of computer simulations, or models, and knowledge of the past.

4. Scientists ………………………. (are collecting / have been collecting / collect) data about
storms for decades.

5. They ………………………… (noticed / have noticed / notice) patterns that suggest what it
……………………….. (is taking / takes / took) for a strong storm to form in the first place.