FASTRACK IELTS | ENGLISH TENSES FOR IELTS

ENGLISH TENSES
FOR IELTS

Asiya Miart
FasTrack IELTS
 Chart of English Tenses
  Past Present Future
V+ed V/V+s Will + V
Simple

She studied You chose She studies You choose She will work
Did she study? Did you choose? Does she study? Do you choose? Will she work?
She did not study You did not choose She does not study You do not choose She will not (won’t) work
Keywords: usually, often, every…, sometimes,
Keywords: last ..., in 2012, … ago, yesterday Keywords: next year, in 2035, tomorrow, soon
always
 
  Continuous  

   

was/were + V+ing (present participle) am/is/are + V+ing (present participle) will be + V+ing (present participle)
She was studying She is studying She will be studying
Was she studying? Is she studying? Will she be studying?
She was not studying She is not studying She will not (won’t) be studying
Keywords: at that moment, still Keywords: now, at this moment, still Keywords: still, at 5pm tomorrow
     
had + V+ed (past participle) has/have + V+ed (past participle) will have + V+ed (past participle)
Perfect

She had studied She has studied You have chosen She will have studied
Had she studied? Has she studied? Have you chosen? Will she have studied?
She had not studied She has not studied You have not chosen She will not have studied.
Keywords: just, recently, already, yet, ever, never,
Keywords: by 2010, before (action) since, for, this morning/month/year, in the last few Keywords: by 2035, before (action)
days/weeks/months
 

     

has/have been + V+ing (present

had been + V+ing (present participle) participle) will have been + V+ing (present
Continuous

participle)
Perfect

She had been studying She has been studying She will have been studying
Had she been studying? Has she been studying? Will she have been studying?
She had not been studying She has not been studying She will not have been studying

Keywords: since, for Keywords: since, for Keywords: since, for

 FASTRACK IELTS | ENGLISH TENSES FOR IELTS

PRESENT TENSES

PRESENT SIMPLE
V V+s
I work She studies
Do I work? Does she study?
I don’t work She doesn’t study

Describe something that happens regularly

Keywords: usually, often, every day/month/year, sometimes, always
Students are usually allowed to choose what subjects they study in high
school.

Describe things that are permanent or unchanging

In the UK, children go to school at the age of five.
Many people go on holiday at least once a year.

Academic Task 1:
Describe diagrams or charts and tables without dates
Firstly, rainwater is collected in a large tank. Then, it is filtered. (the passive
voice)
On the engineering faculty, over two-thirds of teachers are men.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS
to be + V+ing (present participle)
I am studying He is studying You’re choosing
Am I studying? Is he studying? Are you choosing?
I am not studying He is not studying You aren’t choosing

Actions that are happening now and may continue into the future
I’m recording a new YouTube video.
I’m reading a book called Thinking Fast And Slow.
I’m reading a book about psychology right now, but I usually read science
fiction.

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 FASTRACK IELTS | ENGLISH TENSES FOR IELTS

Describe something changing and developing

The sea levels are rising.

Winter is coming.

Describe something happening again and again

University entry exams are becoming more difficult every year. (action)
University entry exams gradually become more difficult. (fact)

PRESENT PERFECT

have/has + V+ed (past participle)

She has studied They have chosen
Has she studied? Have they chosen?
She has not studied They have not chosen

Action happened at an indefinite time in the past but the result is important
now
I have seen this movie before.
To compare: I watched this movie last Saturday.
I have been to this restaurant before. Last autumn I attended a conference
and we had dinner here afterwards.

Action began in the past and continues until now

Keywords: just, recently, already, yet, ever, never, since, for, in the last
…days/weeks/years, this morning/month/year
I have not been to the cinema for a long time.

I have met a lot of people in the last few days. (period until now)
I met a lot of people last week. (moment of time in the past)

I ordered the product last Monday, but I have not received it yet.

Schools have recently introduced new rules.

Air pollution has reached unprecedented levels.

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 FASTRACK IELTS | ENGLISH TENSES FOR IELTS

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

has/have been + V+ing (present participle)

She has been studying You‘ve been choosing
Has she been studying? Have you been choosing?
She has not been studying You haven’t been choosing

Action started in the past and is continuing at the present time

Keywords: for, since
I have been reading War and Peace for a month now.
How long have you been studying English? I’ve been studying it for ten years.
I have been living in London for ten years.
I have been playing the piano since I was six.

PAST TENSES

PAST SIMPLE

V+ed
He studied You chose
Did he study? Did you choose?
He did not study You didn’t choose

Action that happened in the past and finished

Keywords: last week/month/year, in 2012, five days/two months/three years
ago, yesterday
I graduated from university in 2012.
In the past, children spent their free time playing outside.
Academic Task 1:
In 1995 more than half of all adults exercised regularly.

Telling a story
We had dinner at your restaurant on Friday. We booked a table at 7.30pm
and arrived on time. However, forty minutes later we were asked to vacate
the table before could finish our main...

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 FASTRACK IELTS | ENGLISH TENSES FOR IELTS

Action happened in the past and finished. It is not true anymore.

I played tennis when I was a child = I used to play tennis. (I don’t play tennis
anymore)
I have been playing tennis since I was a child. (I still play tennis)

PAST CONTINUOUS
was/were + V+ing (present participle)
She was studying You’re choosing
Was she studying? Were you choosing?
She was not studying You weren’t choosing

Action was in process at a certain moment in the past

When I came home, my sister was studying.
The restaurant was just becoming popular went it closed down.

PAST PERFECT
had + V+ed (past participle)
She had studied You’d chosen
Had she studied? Had you chosen?
She had not studied You hadn’t chosen

Action that happened before something else

When I came home, I saw that someone had broken our window.
When I arrived at the party, many people had already left.

In (some moment in the past) = Past Simple

By (some moment in the past) = Past Perfect
Academic Task 1:
In 1990 only fifteen per cent of engineers were women.
By 2010 this number had doubled.

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 FASTRACK IELTS | ENGLISH TENSES FOR IELTS

FUTURE TENSES

FUTURE SIMPLE

will + V
She will study I will choose
Will she study? Will I choose?
She will not study I won’t choose

NOTE: In the past, shall was used to form the future simple tense for I and we. It
is not used this way any more.
Use shall to suggest something
Shall we go? = Should we go?
Where shall we have dinner? = Where should we have dinner?

Express your beliefs about the future

The use of clean energy will alleviate the problem of air pollution.
This trend will continue in the future.

If you promise something or decide to do something at the time of speaking

Hasn’t he arrived yet? I’ll call him.
I won’t tell anyone, I promise.

HOW TO USE THE PRESENT TENSES TO TALK

ABOUT THE FUTURE

Present Continuous = you have decided and arranged to do something

I’m going on holiday next week.
Do not use the future simple to talk about what you have arranged to do.
My brother is getting married in April.
My brother will get married in April.

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 FASTRACK IELTS | ENGLISH TENSES FOR IELTS

to be going to do something = an informal way to say that you intend to do

something
Once I graduate, I’m going to look for a job in banking.
I’m going to read this book over the weekend.

Present Simple = schedules

The train arrives at 5.45 pm.
I finish work at 6 pm and will pick you up at the station 15 minutes later.

Use verbs plan, hope, expect, forecast, be likely to talk about the future
Many animal species are likely to go extinct if nothing is done to preserve them.
The number of tourists is expected to rise.

Use modal verbs might, may, could

The situation might deteriorate further.
Inaction may lead to catastrophic results.

FUTURE CONTINUOUS

will be + V+ing (present participle)

She will be studying You’ll be choosing
Will she be studying Will you be choosing?
She will not be studying You won’t be choosing

Action that will be in progress at a certain moment in the future

Shall we catch up tonight? Oh no, I’ll be watching the tennis final.
Tesla says its new factory will be producing Model Y by the end of this year.
Academic Task 1:
In 2030 the country will be exporting over five billion dollars of goods per year.

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 FASTRACK IELTS | ENGLISH TENSES FOR IELTS

FUTURE PERFECT

will have + V+ed (past participle)

She will have studied You’ll have chosen
Will she have studied? Will you have chosen?
She will not have studies You won’t have chosen

Actions that will be completed before some other point in the future
By the time you get to the office, she will have gone home.

Academic Task 1:
By 2035, the recycling rate will have reached 80 per cent.
To compare: By 2035, the recycling rate will be at 80 per cent.

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