The Tenses are primarily categorized as Past Tense, Present Tense, Future Tense. They are basically used to show the time of any action or state of being.
Let’s have a look at all the 12 Tenses along with their explanation and some examples/
Firstly, we’ll have a look at the 4 Types of Present Tense with Examples. In this tense, you describe all the actions that are happening at the very moment.
1. Simple Present Tense
With this tense, you can explain the action, event, conditions that are happening in the present.
For example:
- She plays the piano.
- He plays cricket.
2. Present Continuous Tense
It will be describing the on-going actions that are still going.
For example:
- Maria is eating.
- Davis is playing cricket.
3. Present Perfect Tense
With this tense, you can indicate actions that begin in the past and continuous in the present.
- She has played the piano.
- I have completed the homework.
4. Present Continuous Tense
In this tense, you can describe the actions, events or moments that have been taking place for some time and it is still ongoing.
For example:
- She has been playing the piano.
- He has been completing his homework.
Having finished the brief of all the four present tenses, Let’s now move onto the second type of tense which we call as “Past Tense”.
Here we’ll discuss the 4 types of Past tense with sentence examples. With this tense, you can describe the actions, moments, or events that have happened in the past.
5. Simple Past Tense
In the simple past tense you can explain any event, moment, actions that have happened in the past.
For example:
- She played the piano yesterday.
- He ate all the apples two hours ago.
6. Past Continuous Tense
It is used to describe an action that is ongoing in the past.
For example:
- She was playing the piano.
- He was completing his homework.
Learn more about the structure of past continuous sentences along with examples.
7. Past Perfect Tense
This tense will refer to all the events or actions that take place in the past.
For example:
- She played the piano.
- He had eaten his food.
8. Past Perfect Continuous Tense
It will describe the continuing action that has happened in the past and still going on. The action goes on till another action interrupts.
For example:
- She had been playing the piano.
- I had been eating.
Now let’s move ahead to work with Future Tense, the last and third type of tense.
Here we’ll discuss the 4 types of future tenses with sentence examples. The future tense is used to express an action that has not yet happened or a state that does not still exist, but will be in future.
9. Simple Future Tense
It is mostly used when we plan to do something.
For instance:
- She will play the piano.
- He will eat his food.
10. Future Continuous Tense
It will describe a continuous action that will happen in the future. In simple words, it refers to the actions that are ongoing in the future.
For example:
- She will be playing the piano after dinner.
- He will be eating his food after homework completion.
11. Future Perfect Tense
This tense refers to the actions that will happen in the future before any other action takes place.
Examples:
- She shall have played before dinner.
- He shall have the food after completing the homework.
12. Future Perfect Continuous Tense
This tense indicates all the activities that are ongoing and will be completed at a specific time in the future.
Example:
- She shall be playing the piano after dinner.
- He shall be eating food after completing homework.
We hope you have got a brief overview of different types of tenses and how they are used to describe a situation or an event happened in different period of time.
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