“WAARI MEYSIDE WAR HAKAA HARO”

The 12 tenses in English

Questions and answers
1. What is simple present tense?
= simple present tense is used for an action which happens every day.
2. What is the formula of simple present tense?
= subject+verb+object
3. Change these into negative and question form

Statement Negative Question

She washes the cloths every week She does not wash the cloths every week Does she wash the cloths every week?
He eats maize every night He does not eat maize every night Does he eat maize ever night?
4. What is present continuous tense?
= present continuous tense is used for an action which happening at the moment.
5. Write the formula of present continuous tense?
= sub+is/are/am+verb+ing+object
6. Change these into negative and question form

Statement Negative Question

She is washing the cloths now She is not washing the cloths now Is she washing the cloths now?
I am eating maize now I am not eating maize now Am I eating maize now?
7. What is present perfect tense?
= present tense is used for an action which have just completed.
8. What is the formula of present perfect tense?
= sub+have/has+verb[past participle]+object
9. Change these into negative and question form

Statement Negative Question

She has washed the cloths She has not washed the clothes Has she washed the cloths?
They have played football The have not played football Have they played football?
10. What is present perfect continuous tense?
= present perfect continuous tense is used for an action which has started in the past and still continues.
11. What is the formula of present perfect continuous tense?
= sub+have/has+been+verb+ing+object
12. Change these into negative and question form

Statement Negative Question

She has been washed the cloths She has not been washed the clothes Has she been washed the cloths?

Page 1 of 5
Summarized by: Abdinasir Omar Osman {English Tutor}
 “WAARI MEYSIDE WAR HAKAA HARO”
They have been played football They have not been played football Have they been played football?

13. What is simple past tense?

= simple past tense is used for an action which happened sometime in the past
14. What is the formula of simple past tense?
= sub+verb[past]+object
15. Change these into negative and question form

Statement Negative Question

She washed the cloths yesterday She did not wash the cloths yesterday Did she wash the cloths yesterday?
They ate maize last night They did not eat maize last night Did they eat maize last night?
16. What is past continuous tense?
= past continuous tense is used for an action which was happening sometime in the past.
17. What is the formula of past continuous tense?
= sub+was/were+verb+ing+object
18. Change these into negative and question form

Statement Negative Question

She was washing the cloths yesterday She was washing the cloths yesterday Does she wash the cloths yesterday?
They were eating maize last night They were not eating maize last night Do they eat maize last night?
19. What is past perfect tense?
= past perfect tense is sued for an action which had happened before another action in the past.
20. What is the formula pf past perfect tense?
= sub+had+been+verb[past participle]+object
21. Change these into negative and question form

Statement Negative Question

She had washed the cloths before She had not washed the cloths before she left Does she had washed the cloths before
she left the house the house she left the house?
They had eaten maize before they They had not eaten maize before they slept Do they had eaten the maize before
slept they were slept?
22. What is past perfect continuous tense?
= past perfect continuous tense is used to talk about a past event that had been in progress.
23. What is the formula of past perfect continuous tense?
= sub+had+been+verb+ing+object

Page 2 of 5
Summarized by: Abdinasir Omar Osman {English Tutor}
 “WAARI MEYSIDE WAR HAKAA HARO”

24. Change these into negative and question form

Statement Negative Question

She had been washing the cloths She had not been washing the clothes Had she been washing the cloths?
They had been playing football They had not been playing football Had they been playing football?
25. What is simple future tense?
= simple future tense is used for an action which will happen sometime in the future.
26. What is the formula of simple future tense?
= sub+will/shall+verb+object
27. Change these into negative and question form

Statement Negative Question

She will wash the cloths tomorrow She will not wash the cloths tomorrow will she wash the cloths tomorrow?
They will eat maize next day They will not eat maize next day Will they eat maize next day?
28. What is future continuous tense?
= future continuous tense is used for an action which will be in progress sometime in the future
29. What is the formula of future continuous tense?
= sub+will/shall+be+verb+ing+obj
30. Change these into negative and question form

Statement Negative Question

She will be washing the cloths She will not be washing the cloths Will she be washing the cloths?
They will be eating maize They will not be eating maize Will they be eating maize?
31. What is future perfect tense?
= future perfect tense used for an action which will have completed at the same point in the future.
32. What is the formula of future perfect tense?
= sub+will/shall+have+verb[past participle]+object
33. Change these into negative and question form

Statement Negative Question

She will have washed the cloths by She will have not washed the cloths by this Will she have washed the cloths by
this week week this week?
He will have eaten the maize by He will have not eaten the maize by the sun Will he have eaten the maize by the
the sun set set sun set?
34. What is future perfect continuous tense?
= future perfect continuous tense is used for unfinished action that will be completed in the future
35. What is the formula of future perfect continuous tense?

Page 3 of 5
Summarized by: Abdinasir Omar Osman {English Tutor}
 “WAARI MEYSIDE WAR HAKAA HARO”
= sub+will/shall+been+verb+ing+obj

36. Change these into negative and question form

Statement Negative Question

She will have been washing the cloths She will have not been washing the cloths Will she have been washing the cloths?
He will have been eating maize He will have not been eating maize Will he have been eating maize?

37. In recent decades, the efficiency of the United Nations ................. by a growing number of
countries.
A) will have been questioned B) would be questioned C) has been questioned D) had been
questioned E) was questioned
38. We ................. no problems whatsoever with the dam since it ................. forty years ago.
A) had / has been constructed B) were having / was being constructed C) have had / was
constructed D) had had / had been constructed E) are having / is constructed
39. Before I got to the end of his article, I felt I knew everything there ______ about the North
America Free Trade Agreement.
A) had known B) was to know C) is known D) is being known E) has to be known
40. It seems likely that by the end of the week, the costs involved in the construction of the bridge
................. by the Ministry.
A) would have been announced B) have been announced C) would be announced D) are being
announced E) will have been announced
41. One feels that there ................. any noticeable improvement in the human rights problem in
Africa until all the African countries ................. their economic difficulties.
A) cannot be / will overcome B) hasn’t been / had overcome C) won’t be / overcome D)
wouldn’t be / would be overcome E) wasn’t / have overcome
42. The Etruscans, who ................. a great part of Italy about 900 B.C., ................. from Asia Minor.
A) had colonized / originally came B) colonized / had originally come C) were colonized / have
originally come D) have colonized / originally come E) were colonizing / might originally come
43. The orders were that we ................. the area within hours to prevent further loss of life
A) had evacuated B) have to evacuate C) will have evacuated D) shall have to evacuate E) had to
evacuate
44. As I ................. you yesterday, the undersecretary ................. over this afternoon’s discussions
A) have told / was presiding B) told / will be presiding C) would have told / had presided D) will
tell / has presided E) would tell / has been presiding
45. For a hundred years or so, some critics ................. that poetry is dying, and all that time poets
................. poems that later generations recognize as great.
A) have maintained / have been writing B) maintained / wrote C) had maintained / were writing
D) maintain / are writing E) would maintain / had been writing
46. What I ................. is that we ................. to think seriously about a thorough reform in the legal
system.
A) have proposed / should have begun B) had proposed / were beginning C) am proposing /
begin D) was proposing / have begun E) proposed / had begun
47. When the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli ................. a map of Mars in 1877, he
................. a large number of straight linear features, which he called "canali", that is, channels.

Page 4 of 5
Summarized by: Abdinasir Omar Osman {English Tutor}
“WAARI MEYSIDE WAR HAKAA HARO”
A) publishes / has noted B) had published / was noting C) has published / notes D) published /
noted E) would have published / had noted
48. In the past few months, our company director ................. more mettle than most industrialists
................. in an entire career.
A) had shown / have done B) showed / would do C) shows / did D) was showing / may have done
E) has shown / do
49. The history of the Venetian republic ................. to an end in 1797 when Venice ................. over to
Austria by Napoleon.
A) was coming / would have been handed B) had come / has been handed C) comes / had been
handed D) came / was handed E) was questioned
50. The Pacific markets ................. extremely competitive since the manufacturing capacity of many
Far Eastern countries ................. to improve at the turn of the decade.
A) are becoming / begins B) had become / would begin C) became / have begun D) were
becoming / would have begun E) have become / began
51. More than half of the 850 asylum seekers currently detained in Britain ................. in prison with
no right of appeal, even though the vast majority ................. with any offence, let alone convicted.
A) were held / are not charged B) are being held / have not been charged C) have been held /
would not be charged D) being held / had not been charged E) will be held / were not being
charged
52. When they heard gunfire across the border, the relief workers in the camp knew that another
group of refugees ................. before long.
A) are arriving B) had arrived C) will arrive D) would be arriving E) could have arrived

Answer Key:

37: C 38: C 39: B 40: E 41: C 42: B 43: E 44: B 45: A 46: C 47: D 48: E 49: D
50: E 51: B 52: D

Page 5 of 5
Summarized by: Abdinasir Omar Osman {English Tutor}