Present Simple, Present Continuous, Past Simple, Past Continuous

How many basic present and past tenses are there in English?

Present Simple,

Present Continuous,

Past Simple,

Past Continuous.

Which tense is usually used for habits and routines?

Present Simple

Which tense is used for actions happening now?

Present Continuous.

Which tense is used for completed actions in the past?

Past Simple.

Which tense is used for actions in progress at a specific time in the past?

Past Continuous.

Which tense is often used with every day, usually, always, often?

Present Simple.

Which tense is often used with now, at the moment, right now?

Present Continuous.

Which tense is often used with yesterday, last week, ago?

Past Simple.

What is the structure of Present Simple?

Subject + verb (V1).

What ending is added in the third person singular? (Present Simple)

-s / -es

Which auxiliary verb is used for questions in Present Simple?

Do / Does.

Which auxiliary verb is used for negatives in Present Simple?

Do not (don’t) / Does not (doesn’t).

Complete: She ___ coffee every morning.

drinks

Complete: They ___ to work by bus.

Go

Make a question: You play tennis.

Do you play tennis?

Make a negative sentence: He likes fish.

He doesn’t like fish.

Which tense? “I work in a bank.”

Present Simple.

Which tense? “She usually gets up at 7.”

Present Simple.

What is the structure of Present Continuous?

Subject + am/is/are + verb-ing.

When do we use Present Continuous?

For actions happening now or around now.

Complete: I ___ (study) now.

am studying

Complete: They ___ (watch) TV at the moment.

are watching

Complete: She ___ (work) today.

is working

Make a question: He is reading.

Is he reading?

Make a negative sentence: We are sleeping.

We aren’t sleeping.

Which tense? “Look! It is raining.”

Present Continuous.

Which tense? “I am reading a very interesting book these days.”

Present Continuous.

Which tense describes a habit?

Present Simple.

Which tense describes a temporary situation?

Present Continuous.

Choose: She usually ___ (drive/is driving) to work

drives

Choose: She ___ (drives/is driving) to work today.

is driving

Choose: We ___ (have/are having) dinner now.

are having.

Choose: I usually ___ (read/am reading) before bed.

read

Which tense? “He works from home.”

Present Simple.

Which tense? “He is working from home this week.”

Present Continuous.

Which verbs are usually NOT used in Continuous forms?

Know, like, love, want, need, understand, believe, remember.

Correct the mistake: I am knowing the answer.

I know the answer.

Correct the mistake: She is liking this movie.

She likes this movie.

Which is correct?
A) I am understanding.
B) I understand.

B) I understand.

What is the structure of Past Simple?

Subject + V2 / V-ed

Which auxiliary verb is used for questions in Past Simple?

Did

Which auxiliary verb is used for negatives in Past Simple?

Did not (didn’t).

Complete: I ___ (visit) London last year.

visited

Complete: She ___ (go) home early.

went

Make a question: They watched a movie.

Did they watch a movie?

Make a negative sentence: He played football.

He didn’t play football.

Which tense? “We met in 2022.”

Past Simple.

What is the structure of Past Continuous?

Subject + was/were + verb-ing.

When do we use Past Continuous?

For an action in progress at a specific time in the past.

Complete: I ___ (sleep) at 11 p.m.

was sleeping.

Complete: They ___ (work) when I called.

were working.

Make a question: She was studying.

Was she studying?

Make a negative sentence: We were waiting.

We weren’t waiting.

Which tense? “At 8 o’clock yesterday I was driving home.”

Past Continuous.

Which tense describes a short completed action?

Past Simple.

Which tense describes the background action?

Past Continuous.

Choose: I ___ (walked/was walking) home when it started to rain.

was walking.

Choose: While I was cooking, my friend ___ (called/was calling).

called

Which happened first?
“I was taking a shower when the phone rang.”

I was taking a shower.

Which tense? “The phone rang.”

Past Simple.

Present form of “be” with I?

am

Present form of “be” with he/she/it?

is

Present form of “be” with we/you/they?

are

Past form of “be” with I/he/she/it?

was

Past form of “be” with we/you/they?

were

Past form of “have”?

had

Past form of “do”?

did

Complete: She ___ a new car.

has

Complete: They ___ a meeting yesterday.

had

Complete: I ___ my homework yesterday.

did

Complete: We ___ at home last night.

were

Make a question: She has a dog.

Does she have a dog?

Make a question: They had a car.

Did they have a car?

Make a negative sentence: He did his homework.

He didn’t do his homework.