Grammar Tenses. Present Tenses
Simple
Continuous
P
R
E
S
E
N
T
ROUTINE
PROCESS (without any results)
-everyday activities/ habits
-repeated actions
-facts
-feelings/mental activity
(stative verbs)
-timetable/schedule
-action which is happening right now
-during present period of time (this week, this
month, these days, this year)
-annoying or irritating things with “always”
-developing and changing situations around us
(usually with get and become)
-arranged future (sth that has been organized)
P
A
S
T
Past routine (when; result
isn’t important)
-everyday activities/ habits
-repeated actions
-facts
-feelings/mental activity
(stative verbs)
-timetable/schedule
-completed action in the
past (result isn’t important)
-one action happened after
another (I opened the door
and called my friend)
(in 1990, in November,
last Monday, 3 minutes
ago, etc)
Perfect
Perfect-Continuous
RESULT which is important for us:
-action finished in the past but
influences/connected with our present
- finished recently (without saying when it
happened because the result is more important
then the fact when it happened)
-with “for/since/how long” when the result is
important
-with “it’s the first/the second.. time”
-when we stress/pay attention to our experience
(I have worked in this company for 2 years)
-with stative verbs (e.g like, love, prefer, know,
etc)
Process with some results:
Past processes (the process is important!)
Result in the past
-action which was happening at a specific moment in
the past (at 3p.m, etc)
- action which was happening during period of time
(all the week/ month/year, from 2 to 3p.m, those days,
etc)
-annoying or irritating actions with “always” in the
past
-developing and changing situations in the past
(usually with get and become)
-two (or more) actions in progress at the same time
(with when or while)
-when one action happened in the middle of another
or when one short, unexpected action interrupted
the long action (WHEN+action which interrupted the
long action;
After WHILE+Past Continuous)
-action finished by specific moment in the past
(the result was important) I had finished by 7p.m
!!!My mum was cooking when somebody called her
!!!Somebody called while my mum was cooking
By / by the time/ before / after /just / when
- one action happened before another and we
want to emphasize* the result of the first (Past
Perf+Past Sim)
She had arrived before her parents called
-with “for/since/how long” when the result was
important
-with “it was the first/the second.. time”
-with stative verbs (e.g like, love, prefer, know,
etc)
Some other words and phrases:
-you have been doing smth for
some period of time but the
result is small / not so
important or not visible
enough;
-the visible result is (red face,
red eyes, etc) and based on it
you identify the action (the
action has stopped before the
moment of speaking) – ex.
Have you been crying? (her/his
eyes are red)
Process with some results
before a moment in the past:
you have been doing smth for
some period of time but the
result was small / not so
important or not visible
enough, and the duration was
more important, than the
result;
-the visible result was (red
face, red eyes, etc) and based on
it you identify the action (the
action has stopped before the
moment of speaking) – ex. Had
she been crying….? (her eyes
were red when I entered the
room)