Tense & Sequence of Tense

Tense: Tense tense time tense

present tense, past tense future tense- Tense structure
Sl. Tense Structure
Active: V1(s/es)/ am/is/are/have/has
1. Present indefinite tense
Passive: am/is/are+v3
Active: am/is/are + (V+ing)
2. Present continuous tense
Passive: am being/is being/are being+v3
Active: have/has + V3
3. Present perfect tense
Passive: have been/has been+v3
A: have been/has been + (V1+ing)
4. Present perfect continuous tense
P: have been being/has been being + v3
A: V2 / was/were/ had
5. Past indefinite tense
P: was/were+V3
A: was/were + (V1+ing)
6. Past continuous tense
P: was/were being + v3
A: had + V3
7. Past perfect tense
P: had been + V3
A: had been +(V1+ing)
8. Past perfect continuous tense
P: had been being +v3
A: shall/will + V0
9. Future indefinite tense
P: shall/will be + V3
A: shall be/will be + (V+ing)
10. Future continuous tense
P: shall be/will be being+ v3
A: shall have/will have + V3
11. Future perfect tense
P: shall have/will have been + V3
A: shall/will have been + (V+ing)
12. Future perfect continuous tense
P: shall/will have been being + v3

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 Present Indefinite Tense
Tense
Present Indefinite tense  He goes to school.  The sun rises in the east.  Ice floats on water.

 Usually I get up early in the morning.

 Quotation  Gladstone says, "A justice delayed is a justice denied."

 Shakespeare says, "Cowards die many times before their death."

Concept-01: Sentence- Always, often, how often, very often, never, occasionally, usually, generally, frequently,

regularly, every+ time (every+ day/ week/ morning), sometimes, on Mondays, twice, in Summer, etc.
Present Indefinite Tense  He goes to school everyday.  I always walk in the morning.

 I get up at 8 o'clock every morning.

Concept-02: Sentence- verb- Present Indefinite Tense verb- Continuous Tense

like, feel, love, hate, want, wish, see, hear, smell, notice, recognize, appear, look, seem, think, suppose,
believe, belong, understand.  The book belongs to me.  They understand the problem now.

Present Continuous Tense

Concept-01: Verb- Present Continuous Tense
 She is singing.  He is writing a letter.

Concept-02: Present Continuous Tense

 Mustakim is walking to school tomorrow.  We are flying to Venezuela next month.

Concept-03: Sentence- now, right now, today, this year, this week, at present, at this moment, at this very moment
Present Continuous Tense  I am working hard today.

 The company I work for isn't doing so well this year.

Present Perfect Tense

 Verb- verb- Present Perfect tense
Concept-01: Sentence- just already, just now lately, recently yet, so far, till now, never, ever, for, since, for
a long time, in the last few days Present perfect tense
 Have you heard from Brian recently?  I've met a lot of people in the last few days.

 Everything is going well. We haven't had any problems so far.

Concept-03: Present perfect tense

 I has watched this movie five times.  I have visited this place several times.

Concept-04: Sentence- first /second/third time Present perfect tense

 It's the first time he has driven a car.  This is the second time this has happened.

Present Perfect Continuous Tense

 Verb- Present Perfect Continuous tense
 He has been suffering from fever for seven days.  She has been studying English since 1998.
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 For /Since
 For- a/an  for five hours, for thirty years, for ten minutes.

 since 1975, since January, since Monday.  He has been ill since Friday last. [26th BCS]

 It has been raining since last Tuesday. [Bangladesh Shilpa Bank Recruitment 2004]

Past Indefinite Tense

 Verb- Past Indefinite tense

Concept-01: Sentence- yesterday, last + time (night, year, week, month), ago, for a while, it is time, it is high time, wish, long
since, once, etc Past Indefinite tense
 Imran went to London last year.  He tried his best to make a good result last year.

Concept-02: 'Since' Conjunction Since Present Indefinite / Present Perfect tense

Since- Past Indefinite tense  Present + Since + Past Indefinite

 It is ten years since we first met.  Many years have passed since he left the village.

Concept-03: Since Past perfect tense since- Past Indefinite tense

 It was ten years since we had first met.

Concept-04: As if/ As though Present Indefinite tense As if/ As though Past

Indefinite tense  The man talks as if he knew me

Past Continuous Tense

 verb- Past Continuous Tense  They were watching tv.

 He was reading a book.  They were going to college.

Concept-02: Past Continuous

tense Past Indefinite tense
 When Pabel came home, Jewel was watching television.

 Neela burnt her hand when she was cooking dinner. [26th BCS]

Past Perfect Tense

Concept-01: Past Perfect tense-
Past Indefinite tense sentence- before- after- Past perfect tense
Past Indefinite tense
 He had written the book before he retired. [28th BCS]  She told me his name after he had left. [25th BCS]

 I had looked for a good doctor before I met you. [26th BCS]

Note: Before After- when

Concept-04: No sooner . . . . . . . than, Scarcely .. . . . .. when, Hardly . . . . . when /before Clause
Clause Past Perfect tense Clause Past Indefinite tense
 No sooner had he seen the police than he ran away.

 No sooner had the teacher entered the class than the students stood up.
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 Past Perfect Continuous Tense
 Verb- Past Perfect Continuous tense
 She had been spending as much money as she could for the rainy days. [C Unit DU 2003-04]

Future Indefinite Tense

 Verb- verb- Future Indefinite Tense  I shall do the work.

 Sentence- Future Indefinite tense Present Indefinite tense sentence-

Future  I will call you when I return.

 Future Indefinite Present Indefinite tense

 Future Continuous tense Common

Future Perfect Tense

 Sentence- By + future time/By the time/By this time sentence- Future Perfect tense
 By this time next month, the government will have resigned. [B Unit DU 2006-07]
 By 2010, I will have worked for this firm for 15 years. [B Unit DU 2001-02]
 By the end of the twenty-first century, the computer will have become a necessity in every home. [Pubali
Bank March, 2006 ]