AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR & LANGUAGE
                      THE PAST TENSE                                              THE FUTURE TENSE
(1) Past Indefinite Tense                                      (1) Future Indefinite Tense
     The Past Indefinite or Simple Past Tense is used :             The Future Indefinite or Simple Future Tense is used
                                                               for an action that is still to take place.
     (i)  To indicate an action completed in the past.              For example,
     For example,                                                            I shall meet him tomorrow.
                The boy left school an hour ago.                             Day after tomorrow will be Friday.
                                                               (2) Future Continuous Tense
                I did this work a week ago.
                                                                    The Future Continuous Tense represents an action as
                The ship sailed last week.                     going on at some time in future time.
     (ii) To denote past habits.                                    For example,
     For example,                                                            I shall be writing the letter then.
                                                                             When I go into the class, the teacher will be
                He practised many hours every day.
                                                                             teaching.
                She always sang a romantic song.                    * The Future Continuous Tense is also used for repre-
(2) Past Continuous Tense                                      senting future events that are planned.
     The Past Continuous Tense is used :                            For example,
                                                                             I shall be waiting for you till 4 pm.
     (i)  To denote an action going on at some time in the
                                                                             She will be meeting me next week.
          past.
                                                               (3) Future Perfect Tense
          For example,                                              The Future Perfect Tense is used to indicate the
                The light went out while I was reading.        completion of an action by a certain future time.
                We were watching the television all evening.        For example,
                                                                             I shall have done my homework by that time.
    (ii)  With always, continually etc. for persistent hab-
                                                                             Before you go to meet him, he will have left
          its in the past.
                                                                             the office.
     For example,                                              (4) Future Perfect Continuous Tense
                He was always refusing.                             The Future Perfect Continuous Tense indicates an ac-
                She was continually neglecting her duty.       tion represented as being in progress over a period of
                                                               time that will end in the future.
(3) Past Perfect Tense
                                                                    For example,
     The Past Perfect Tense is used :                                        By next January, we shall have been living in
    (i)   To describe an action completed before a certain                   Delhi for three years.
          moment in the past.                                                When he completes his school, he will have
     For example,                                                            been studying at NIIT.
                                                               Conjugation of Verb ‘To be’
                I met him in 1995. I had seen him last five
                years before.                                                PRESENT INDEFINITE TENSE
                I called him at 5 a.m. I had found him got up                   Singular             Plural
                at 7 a.m.                                      1st Person       I am                 We are
                                                               2nd Person       You are              You are
     (ii) When two actions happened in the past and it
                                                               3rd Person       He/She/It is         They are
          may be necessary to show which action happened
          earlier than the other. We use Past Perfect in the                PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE
          event that happened earlier.                                          Singular             Plural
     For example,                                              1st Person       I am being           We are being
                                                               2nd Person       You are being        You are being
            When I reached the station, the train had started.
                                                               3rd Person       He/She/It is being They are being
            I had completed my work before the officer came.
                                                                               PRESENT PERFECT TENSE
            I had done my work when Seema came to see
                                                                             Singular                Plural
            me.
                                                               1st Person I have been                We have been
(4) Past Perfect Continuous Tense                              2nd Person You have been              You have been
     The Past Perfect Continuous Tense is used for an ac-      3rd Person He/She/It has been They have been
tion that began before a certain point in the past and con-
                                                                       PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE
tinued upto that time.
                                                                             Singular                Plural
     For example,                                              1st Person I have been being          We have been being
            He had been serving the institution for the last   2nd Person You have been              You have been being
            one year.                                                        being
            At that time he had been writing a short story     3rd Person He/She/It has been They have been being
            for three months.                                                being
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