English Grammer and Spoken English

PAST TENSE

FUTURE TENSE

Past Simple Tense

It is used to express an action that happened or completed in past, usually a very little time before speaking, or action which is just completed. Time of action is not specified in terms of long time ago or short ago but it make a sense that the action has done a little time ago. For example, a person says, “I watched a movie”, it means the speaker of this sentence watched a movie a little time ago or little time ago in the same day.

Rules:2nd form of verb (past simple) is used as main verb in the positive sentences and base form is used in negative and interrogative sentences.

Structure of sentences

Positive Sentence
      • Subject + main verb (past simple) + object
      • Subject + 2nd form of verb (past simple) + object

Examples
      I killed a snake
      He ate a mango.

Negative sentences
       • Subject + (auxiliary verb + not) main verb (base form) + object
       • Subject + did not + 1st form of verb or base form + object

In negative sentence “did not” is written and the 1st form of verb (base verb) is used instead of using 2nd form (or past simple verb).

Examples.
       I did not kill a snake
       He did not eat a mango

Interrogative sentences
     • Auxiliary verb + subject + main verb (base verb) + object
     • Did + subject + 1st form of verb (or base verb) + object

Interrogative sentence starts with “did” and the 1st form of verb (base verb) is used instead of using 2nd form (or past simple verb).

Examples
     Did I kill a snake?
     Did he eat a mango?

More Examples

Negative sentences
        He gave me a gift
        They went to cinema.
        She wrote a letter to him.
        I made a table.
        You answered correctly.

Negative sentences
        He did not give me a gift
        They did not go to cinema.
        She did not write a letter to him.
        I did not make a table.
        You did not answer correctly.

Interrogative sentences
       Did he give me a gift?
       Did they go to cinema?
       Did she write a letter to him?
       Did I make a table?
       Did you answer correctly?

More Examples.

Positive Sentences
          They have gone to school.
          They have bought a new car.
          I have started a job
          It has rained.
          The guests have arrived
          John has left for home.
          You have told a lie.

Negative Sentences
        They have not gone to school.
        They have not bought a new car.
        I have not started a job
        It has not rained.
        The guests have not arrived.
        John has not left for home.
        You have not told a lie.

Negative Sentences
       Have they gone to school?
       Have they bought a new car?
       Have I started a job?
       Has it rained?
       Have the guests arrived?
       Has John left for home?
       Have you told a lie?

Click on each below to study each tense

PRESENT TENSE

PAST TENSE

FUTURE TENSE

Present Perfect Continuous tense

It is used to express a continued or ongoing action that started in past and is continued until now. There will be a time reference, such as “since 1980, for three hours etc” from which the action has been started. A sense of time reference is found in these sentences which gives an idea that action has been continued from some time in past till now. Such time reference or sense of time reference is the identity of Present perfect continuous tense because it tells that action has started from a particular time in past. For example, “He has been reading in this school since 2005”, so the it means that he has started his education in this school in 2005 and he is studying in this school till now.

Note: If there is not time reference or sense of time reference then it is not Present perfect continuous tense because there is no hint about the time of action when it started in past and it seems just an ongoing action at present time which resembles “present Continuous tense. So the reference of time differentiates between Present perfect continuous tense and Present continuous tense.

Rules: An auxiliary verb “has been or have been” is used in sentence. 1st form of verb (base verb) +ing (present participle) is used as main verb in sentence. “Since” or “for” is used before the “time reference” in sentence. If the time reference is exactly known such as 1995, 4 O’clock then “since” is used before the time in sentence. If the time reference is not exactly known such as three hours, six years, four days, then “for” is used before the time in sentence. Time reference such as 3 hours or 5 days is not exactly known because we don’t know that about which three hours a day is told in sentence or about which 5 days in a month is told in sentence. While the 1995 is exactly known time.

Structure of sentence.

Positive Sentence.
• Subject + Auxiliary verb + main verb (Present participle) + Object + Time reference
• Subject + has been/have been + (1st form of verb or base verb + ing) + object +    time reference

If the subject is “He, She, It, singular or proper name” then auxiliary verb “has been” is used after subject in sentence.
If subject is “You, They or plural” then auxiliary verb “have been” is used after subject in sentence.

Examples.
        He has been watering the plants for two hours.
        I have been studying since 3 O’clock

Negative Sentence.
• Subject +”Not” between the Auxiliary verb + main verb (present participle) +     Object + Time reference

• Subject + has not been/have not been + (1st form of verb or base verb + ing) +    object + time reference

To make negative sentence, the word “not” is written between the auxiliary verbs, so it becomes like “has not been or have not been”. The rule for using auxiliary verb “has been or have been” in negative sentences is as same as mentioned above.

Examples.
        He has not been watering the plants for two hours.
        I have not been studying since 3 O’clock.

Interrogative Sentence.
• Auxiliary verb + Subject + Auxiliary verb + main verb (present participle) + object + time reference

• Has/have + Subject + been + (1st form of verb or base verb+ing) + object + time reference

Interrogative sentence starts with auxiliary verb. If the subject is “He, She, It, singular or proper name” then the sentence starts with auxiliary verb “has” and auxiliary verb “been” is used after subject
If subject is “You, They or plural” then the sentence starts with auxiliary verb “have” and “been” is used after subject

Examples.
Has he been watering the plants for two hours?
Have I been studying since 3 O’clock?

More examples.

Positive sentences
           It has been raining for three days.
           I have been living in America since 2003.
           He has been playing cricket for two hours.
           They have been watching television since 6 O’clock.
           She has been working in this office since 2007.

Negative sentences
         It has not been raining for three days.
         I have not been living in America since 2003.
         He has not been playing cricket for two hours.
         They have not been watching television since 6 O’clock.
         She has not been working in this office since 2007.

Positive sentences
        Has it been raining for three days?
        Have I been living in America since 2003?
        Has he been playing cricket for two hours.
        Have they been watching television since 6 O’clock?
        Has she been working in this office since 2007?

Click on each below to study each tense

PRESENT TENSE

PAST TENSE

FUTURE TENSE

Present Perfect Tense

It is used to expressed an action which happened or completed in past but usually the action which happened or completed at a short time before now (near past) not a very long time before now. Specific time such as two years ago, last week or that day is usually not used in the sentences of in this tense. It means that this tense expresses the action whose time when it happened, is not exactly specified but it sounds to refer to some action that happened or completed in near past.

Rules: Auxiliary verb “has or have” is used in sentence. 3rd form of verb (past participle) is used as main verb in sentence.

Structure of Sentence

Positive Sentence
• Subject + Auxiliary verb + main verb (past participle) + Subject
• Subject + has/have + 3rd form of verb or past participle + subject

If the subject is “He, She, It, singular or proper name” then auxiliary verb “has” is used after subject in sentence.
If subject is “You, They or plural” then auxiliary verb “have” is used after subject in sentence.

Examples
I have eaten meal
She has learnt a lesson

Negative Sentence
• Subject + Auxiliary verb + NOT + main verb (past participle) + Subject
• Subject + has/have + NOT + 3rd form of verb or past participle + subject

Rules for using auxiliary verb “has or have” in negative sentence are same as mentioned above.

Examples
I have not eaten meal.
She has not learnt a lesson.

Interrogative Sentences
• Auxiliary verb + Subject + main verb (past participle) + Subject
• Has/have + Subject + 3rd form of verb or past participle + subject

Interrogative sentence starts with auxiliary verb. If the subject is “He, She, It, singular or proper name” then the sentence starts with auxiliary verb “has”.
If subject is “You, They or plural” then the sentence starts with auxiliary verb “have”.

Examples
Have I eaten meal?
Has she learnt a lesson?

More Examples.

Click on each below to study each tense

PRESENT TENSE

PAST TENSE

FUTURE TENSE

Present Continuous Tense

It is used to express a continued or ongoing action at present time. It expresses an action which is in progress at the time of speaking. For example, a person says, “I am writing a letter”. It means that he is in the process of writing a letter right now. Such actions which are happening at time of speaking are expressed by present continuous tense. Present Continuous tense is also called Present progressive tense.

Rules. Auxiliary verb “am or is or are” is used in sentence. 1st form of verb or base verb + ing (present participle) is used as main verb in sentence.

Structure of sentence

Positive Sentence
• Subject + auxiliary verb + main verb-ing (Present participle) + object
• Subject + am/is/are + (1st form of verb or base verb + ing) + object

If the subject is “I” then auxiliary verb “am” is used after subject in sentence.
If the subject is “He, She, It, singular or proper name” then auxiliary verb “is” is used after subject in sentence.
If subject is “You, They or plural” then auxiliary verb “are” is used after subject in sentence.
The participle “ing” is added to the 1st form of verb i.e. going (go) writing (write)

Examples
        I am playing cricket.
        He is driving a car
        They are reading their lessons.

Negative Sentence
• Subject + auxiliary verb + not + main verb-ing (Present participle) + object
• Subject + am/is/are + not + (1st form of verb + ing) + object

Rules for using auxiliary verbs (am or is or are) after subject in negative sentences are same as mentioned above.

Examples.
         I am not playing cricket.
         He is not driving a car
         They are not reading their lessons.

Interrogative Sentences

• Auxiliary verb + Subject + main verb-ing (Present participle) + object
• Am/is/are + Subject + (1st form of verb or base verb + ing) + object

For making interrogative sentences, the sentence is started with auxiliary verb rather than putting auxiliary verb inside the sentence. If the subject is “I” the sentence starts with auxiliary verb “am”. If the subject is “He, She, It, singular or proper name” the sentence starts with auxiliary verb “is”. If subject is “You, They or plural” the sentence starts with auxiliary verb “are”.

Examples.
          Am I playing cricket?
          Is he driving a car?
         Are they reading their lessons?

More Examples

Positive Sentences
           I am listening to the news
           You are washing your clothes
           She is riding on horse
           They are playing football.
           It is raining

Negative Sentence
          I am not listening to the news.
          You are not washing your clothes.
          She is not riding on a horse.
          They are not playing football.
          It is not raining.

Interrogative Sentences
         Am I listening to the news?
         Are you washing your clothes?
         Is she riding on a horse?
         Are they playing football?
         Is it raining?

Click on each below to study each tense

PRESENT TENSE

PAST TENSE