PRESENT SIMPLE

1. Permanent actions
2. Repeated habitual actions
3. General truth

a) My friends often drop by.

b) Birds fly south in the winter
c) He lives in an old station.

4) short actions
5) timetables

PRESENT PROGRESSIVE

1. Actions happening NOW

2. Temporary situations
3. Future arrangements

a) I am currently writing a book about my experiences.

b) He is having breakfast right now.
c) We’re moving in at the end of this week.

4) temporary habits
5) annoying habits

PAST SIMPLE

1. Completed at a specific time

2. Habitual or repeated actions
3. Actions happened one after the other
4. The permanent situation in the past

a) I always went to bed early when I lived with my parents.

b) We bought our house five years ago.
c) I made a sandwich, turned on the TV and watched the match.
d) I lived in London for 20 years.
5. Details of news. (use with Present Perfect)
E.g. I’ve hurt my leg. I fell of a ladder.
6. Actions in stories. (use with past continues)
E.g. He sat down and ordered a coffee.

PAST PROGRESSIVE

1. Actions happening at a specific point of time in the past

2. To set the scene in a story. (use with past simple)
3. Actions happening at the same time in the past

a) Serik was walking in the forest and it was raining.

b) While I was watching TV, my father was cooking.
c) I was watching TV at 7 o’clock yesterday evening.

4. Emphasis on the length of the action. (use with all day, all evening, for hours)
e.g. I was working in the garden all day.

PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE

1. Finished, but time is not mentioned. (NEWS/RECENT EVENTS. Use with

just/yet/already/recently)
2. Life experience. (use with ever, never)
3. Started in the past, and continues up to the present. (HOW LONG. Use with since,
for)
4. Present result.
5. Unfinished time word. (use with this week, today, this month, this year)

a) We have travelled to Poland twice.

b) I’ve lost my keys (so I can’t get into my house)
c) Yernur has had this car since September.
d) I haven’t seen her this month.
e) The Queen has given a speech.

PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

1. Started in the past, and continues up to the present. (HOW LONG. Use with since,
for)
2. Action happening over a period of time in the past and may have finished, but its
results are obvious in the present. (PRESENT RESULT)
3. Temporary situations. (Use with recently)

a) They’ve been living in London for 2 years.

b) He’s very tired. He’s been studying all night. OR I’ve been working (that’s why I’m
tired)
c) I’ve been going to the gym a lot recently.

Present Continues VS Present Perfect Continues

I'm going to the gym every week.

I've been going to the gym every week.

In a nutshell, the difference is that in the present continuous version, there's more
focus on how temporary the situation is, whereas with the present perfect version
there's more focus on the span of time it's been happening, and indirectly
the results in the present.

These are the normal functions of present continuous and present perfect.

So with the gym example, those sentences might have contexts like these:

I'm going to the gym every week. We'll see how long it lasts.

I've been going to the gym every week. I'm so proud of myself, and check out
these abs!

Exercise.

1. They ______ living in London now.

2. They ______ living in London for the last five years.
3. It is 28th March; I ______ working here all this month.
4. It is 2nd March; I ______ working here all this month.
5. Today is Monday; she ________ staying with Assel this week.
6. Today is Friday; she _______ staying with Assel this week.

PAST PERFECT

1. To describe an action which was completed before a specific point of time in the
past.
2. To describe an action that was completed before another action in the past.
3. How long before to a point in the past. (Use with: When + past simple, for +
time )

a) The film had already started when we got to the cinema.

b) When he graduated, he had been in London for six years.
c) My mum had done the washing up by midnight.

4. Unreal things in the past. (Use with: third conditional, wish)

a) I wish I hadn’t gone to bed so late!

Time expressions:

Before + point in time

By + point in time
Before, after, when, by the time, already, ever, never, just

PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

1. To emphasize the duration of an action that took place before another action in
the past. (HOW LONG TO A POINT IN THE PAST)
2. To refer to an action whose duration caused visible results at a later point of time
in the past. (RESULT AT A TIME IN THE PAST)

a) They were tired because they had been cleaning the house all day.
b) He had been living in Scotland for 15 years when he moved to Ireland.
c) The pavement was wet. It had been raining.

Time expressions:

Before + point in time

By + point in time
Before, after, when, how long, for, since, by the time

PAST PROGRESSIVE VS PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

1. PAST ACTIONS
a) I was working at the office.
(Here, we’re talking about an action that was in progress in the past)
b) I had been working in the office when 9/11 happened.
 (Here, we’re referring to an action that happened in the past while another took
place)

2. FREQUENT ACTIONS.
- PPP – smth happened several times BEFORE a point in the past;
- PP – an action that happened frequently in the past.

a) I was staying overtime everyday for months.

(Here, we are referring to a past action that used to be a routine)
b) I had been staying overtime every day since April.
(Here, we are indicating the duration of an ongoing action in the past)

3. NARRATION.
When we want to narrate a past action or tell a story in the past tense, we tend to
start with past continuous to give a general background.

a) The Redhood was going to her grandmother when the wolf saw her.  

b) The Redhood had been going to her grandmother when the wolf saw her.

4. REPORTED SPEECH
Past continues -> Past perfect continues
Present perfect continues -> Past perfect continues

a) They said, "We were helping the others." = They said they had been helping the
others.
b) Harry said, "I have been reading all day." = Harry said he had been reading all
day.