Tenses
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Simple Present Tense

Grammar notes

Practice

 

Form 

Sentences

  I / You / We/ They   go   to school every day.
 He / She / It    goes
bulletWith he/ she / it we add -s or -es to most verbs.
bulletwalk --- walks    get --- gets    go--- goes

Sentences with 'not'

  I / You / We/ They  do not  go   to school every Sunday.
 He / She / It   does not  go

Questions

  Do  I / you/ we/ they  go to school every day?
  Does  he/ she/ it

 

Function

We use the  Simple Present tense 

bulletFor habits

           e.g. He drinks milk for breakfast.

                  I sleep early at night.

bulletFor repeated actions

          e.g. I (always/ sometimes/ usually/ often) watch TV at night.

                He  plays football every Sunday.

bulletFor general truths

          e.g. The sun rises in the east.

                 It is cold in winter.

 

 

Practice                             

 Level 2

Exercise  1 Exercise  2

 Level 3

Exercise  1 Exercise  2

 

 

 

 

 

Present Continuous Tense

Grammar notes

Practice

 

Form

Sentences

  I   am   going  to school now.
  You / We/ They   are
 He / She / It    is

Sentences with 'not'

  I  am not  going  to school now.
  You / We/ They  are not  
 He / She / It   is not  

Questions

  Am   I  going to school now?
  Are  you/ we/ they
  Is  he/ she/ it

Function

We use the present continuous tense 

bulletFor things that are happening now

          e.g. He is riding a bicycle now.

                 Mary is doing homework at this moment

bulletTo describe an action that is going on during this period of time

         e.g. Look! A car is coming. 

 

Practice                             

 Level 2

Exercise  1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Present Perfect Tense 

Grammar notes

Practice

 

Form

Have/  has  +   past participle (e.g. gone) 

Sentences

  I / You / We / They   have  gone  to school already.
  He / She / It    has  gone

Sentences with "not'

  I / You / We / They   haven't  gone  to school yet.
  He / She / It    hasn't  gone

Questions

  Have   I / you / we / they    gone to school yet?
  Has   he / she / it 

Function

We use the Present perfect tense 

bulletTo talk about something that happened in the past, but we do not know exactly when it happened

           e.g. I have been to there before.

bulletTo describe an action that started in the past and continues in the present

           e.g. I have studied in this school for five years.

                  John hasn't seen Mary since Tuesday.

bulletTo describe an action that has completed in the recent past

          e.g. He has just finished his work.

bulletTo describe a repeated action in an unspecified period between the past and now

          e.g. Mary has visited Hong Kong for several times. 

bulletWe often use Present Perfect Tense with the following words :-

           'ever'  'since'  'for'  'already'  'just'  'almost'  'never'  'yet'

 

Practice                             

 Level 5

Exercise  1 Exercise  2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple Past Tense 

Grammar notes

Practice

 

Form

bulletThe Simple Past tense of 'be' is 'was' and 'were'
bulletRegular verbs : base + ed  ( worked; cleaned; listened etc.)
bulletIrregular verbs : (go---went; eat--- ate;  drink--- drank)

Sentences 

  I/ You/ We/ They/ He/ She/ It  went   to school yesterday.

Sentences with 'not'

  I/ You/ We/ They/ He/ She/ It  did not go  to school yesterday.

Questions

  Did   I/ You/ We/ They/ He/ She/ It   go to school yesterday?

Function

bulletWe use the Past Simple to talk about a completed event in the past.

            e.g. He finished his homework yesterday.

bulletIt is always associated with certain past time expressions like:-

           'yesterday';  'last week'; 'when I was young'; 'ago'; 'this morning'; 'once upon a time'

          e.g. My father left Hong Kong last week.

                 Once there was a poor farmer called Ah Ming.

                  Did Peter play basketball this morning?

           

Practice                             

 Level 3

Exercise  1 Exercise  2

 

 

 

 

 

 

Past Continuous Tense

Grammar notes

Practice

 

Form 

 

  I/ He / She / It   was   waiting at 7 o'clock last night.
  You / We/ They   were

Sentences with 'not'

  I/ He / She / It   was not   waitng at 7 o'clock last night.
  You / We/ They  were not  

Questions

  Was   I/ he/ she/ it  waiting at 7 o'clock last night?
  Were  you/ we/ they

Function

bulletWe use the Past Continuous Tense for an action that was in progress at a particular time in the past.

         e.g. I was watching TV at nine o'clock yesterday morning.

               What were you doing at eight o'clock last night?

               When I came in, she was watching TV.

bulletWe can use 'when/ while' before the past continuous.

         e.g. I saw her while I was waiting at the bus-stop.

     

Practice                             

 Level 6

Exercise  1 Exercise  2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple Future Tense

Grammar notes

Practice

 

Form

shall/ will  +  verb  e.g. will go /  shall go

Sentences

 I / He/ She/ We/ You/ We/ They   will go  to the park tomorrow.

Sentences with 'not' 

 I / He/ She/ We/ You/ We/ They   won't go  to the park tomorrow.

Questions

Will    I / he/ she/ we/ you/ we/ they  go to the park tomorrow?

Function

The future tense is used:-

bulletTo talk about future facts

           e.g. My father will be fifty years old next month.

           e.g.  Mr Lee will go to Japan tomorrow night.

bulletTo express willingness

          e.g. If the weather is fine tomorrow, we will go for a picnic.

bullet  It is always associated with certain time expressions like:-

          'tomorrow';  'next month/ week';  'later';  'soon'

bulletWe use Shall I..? when we want to do things for other people. 

            e.g. Shall I turn off the fan?

bulletWe use Shall we..? to make suggestion.

           e.g. Shall we go for a  picnic tomorrow?

Practice                             

 Level 4

Exercise  1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tense Sequence

Practice                             

 Level 4

Exercise  1 Exercise  2

 Level 5

Exercise  1 Exercise  2

   Level 6

Exercise  1 Exercise  2