TENSES

PRESENT SIMPLE
It is used for:
a) actions that are repeated (every morning,often
usually, always);
I always get up at 7 o clock.
b) for general truths:
Osijek is the capital of Slavonia.
c) when something stays unchanged for a long time:
He lives in Osijek.

Present Simple

Interrogative form:
How does she get to work?
What do you think about it?
Is she a reliable person?
When can I see him?

Negative form:
He does not want to come.
We do not need you.
He isnt a reliable person.

PRESENT CONTINOUS

It is used:
a) when something is happening at the time of speaking (now):
I am talking to you now.
b) when something is happening around the time of speaking:
I am reading an interesting book.
c) when we talk about changing situation:
My English is getting better.
d) for future actions that are arranged (near future):
He is playing football tomorrow.
e) when situation is temporary:
I am living with friends until I find a flat.
f) when two actions are simultaneous:
While I am talking you are writing.

Present Continuous
Interrogative form:
Are you studying now?
Is your English getting better?
Negative form:
We are not talking now.
He is not leaving tomorrow.

Present Continuous
List of verbs that are not used in continuous tenses:
want, need, prefer, love, like, hate, belong,
see, hear, know, realize, believe, suppose, mean,
understand, remember, forget, seem

Do you like London?

(not: Are you liking London?)
He does not understand it.
(not: He is not understanding it).
This belongs to me.
(not: This is belonging to me.)

PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE

It is used:
a) when there is a connection with the present:
Jim has gone to Canada.
b) to give new information or to announce a recent happening:
They have just arrived.
c) when something has happened sooner than expected:
When is Tom going to start his new job?
He has already started it.
d) when we do not specify time of action ( ever, never, this year, since, lately, for):
Have you ever visited England?
e) when we expect something to happen (only in questions and negative
sentences):
I have not told him about it yet (jo).
Has it stopped raining yet (ve)?
f) after a superlative:
It is the most boring film I have ever seen.

Present Perfect Simple

Interrogative form:
Have you forgotten my name?
Has she ever been to China?
Negative form:
I have not seen him since Christmas.
He has not loved her.

PRESENT PERFECT
CONTINUOUS

It is used:
a) when we talk about a long action which began in the past and
has recently stopped:
You are out of breath. Have you been running?
b) when the action began in the past and is still happening:
It has been raining for two hours.
c) when actions repeated over a period of time:
She has been playing tennis since she was 8.
d) when we stress how long something has been happening:
I have been learning English for 10 years but I have not learned it
yet.
The verbs BE, HAVE, KNOW are not used in the continuous form.

Present Perfect Continuous

Interrogative form:
Has he been watching TV since dinner?
Have you been writing this letter the whole
morning?
How long have you been learning English?
Negative form:
I have not been watching TV for hours.
She has not been working hard today.

PAST SIMPLE
It is used:
a) for events in the past without any connection
with the present:
I heard the news an hour ago.
b) for specific time in the past:
The Second World War began in 1941.
c) for repeated actions in the past:
During the summer he went swimming every
day.
d) with adverbs of time: yesterday, ago, last
week, in 1870.

Past Simple

Interrogative form:
When did you hear the news?
Did the war begin in 1941?
Were you in Paris last week?
Could he show you the way?

Negative form:
I did not see him yesterday.
I was not there last night.
We could not help him.

PAST CONTINUOUS
It is used:
a) when activity was going on when another activity
occurred:
It was still raining when he returned.
b) when two actions occurred simultaneously:
While I was talking she was listening.
c) when activity was taking place continuously over a
particular period of past time:
What were you doing all morning?
d) when customary action occurred in the past with the
suggestion of annoyance, criticism:
She was continually changing her mind.

Past Continuous
Interrogative form:
Was she continually changing her mind?
What were you doing when he arrived?
Negative form:
She was not talking constantly.
They were not working all morning.

PAST PERFECT
It is used:
a) in when clauses the event in the when clause was
completed before event in the past simple started:
When I had read the letter I started crying.
b) in after clauses- the event in the after clause
preceded the other event:
After we had passed exams, we went to celebrate.
c) when we narrate events looking back from the point
in the past.
d) in reported speech;
e) after expressions: I wish, if only
I wish they had stayed at home.

Past Perfect
Interrogative form:
Had he finished the work before they returned?
Had they passed the exams?
Negative form:
I had not finished the work before they
returned.
They had not passed the exams.

1) WILL , SHALL + INFINITIVE

It expresses neutral future :

The holidays will soon be here.
I shall be 60 next birthday.
It is suitable in prophetic statements:
In 20 years the Earth will be terribly polluted.
Shall in its future sense is restricted to the first person in Standard British
English.
Will can be used in all persons.
Shall has a modal meaning with the second and third person subjects:
You shall die.
It is a threat rather than a prediction.
Shall is found with the second person subjects in the Bible:
Thou shall not kill.
Shall is found in legal documents with the third person subjects:
A committee shall be appointed to study the matter further.

FUTURE TIME FROM THE

PRESENT VIEWPOINT
The most important ways of expressing future
time are:
1) Will/shall + infinitive
2) Be going to + infinitive
3) Present Continuous
4) Present Simple
5) Will/shall + Progressive Infinitive
6) Be about to + infinitive
7) Be to + infinitive

2) BE GOING TO + INFINITIVE
It is used for future and intention. It
refers to the immediate future:
I am going to stay at home.
They are going to get married.
What are you going to do?

3) THE PRESENT CONTINUOUS

It refers to a future event anticipated in the
present. The basic meaning is a fixed
arrangement, plan or programme.
The plane is taking off at 10.
The President is coming to the UN this
week.

4) THE PRESENT SIMPLE

It represents future as a fact:
The next semester starts on the 1st of
March.
Next Christmas falls on Thursday.
It si used to express a plan or
arrangement regarded as unalterable:
Her case comes before the judge next
week.

5) WILL, SHALL +
PROGRESSIVE INFINITIVE
It refers to temporary activities in the future,
interrupted by another activity or taking place at
a specific point in time:
Do not phone me at 7, I shall be eating.
When I get home my wife will be watching TV.
It is also used for a predicted event without
any temporal frame, will or intention:
When will you be moving to your new house?

6) BE ABOUT + INFINITIVE
It expresses the immediate future, i.e.
Imminent fulfilment:
We are (just) about to leave.
He is about to finish his work.

7) BE TO + INFINITIVE
It expresses arrangement, command, or
pre-destined future:
There is to be an investigation.
You are to be back by 10.
If he is to succeed in his new job, he must
work hard.