Tenses and their functions

The table below gives an overview of some of the basic functions of tenses and aspects. Tenses locate
an event in time, while aspects communicate durations and relationships between events that happen at
different times.

Tense Function Example

Present simple used for facts, generalizations, and truths that are not affected “She writes a lot of papers for her
by the passage of time classes.”

Past simple used for events completed in the past “She wrote the papers for all of her
classes last month.”

Future simple used for events to be completed in the future “She will write papers for her classes
next semester.”

Present perfect used to describe events that began in the past and are “She has written papers for most of
expected to continue, or to emphasize the relevance of past her classes, but she still has some
events to the present moment papers left to write.”

Past perfect used to describe events that happened prior to other events in “She had written several papers for
the past her classes before she switched
universities.”

Future perfect used to describe events that will be completed between now “She will have written many papers
and a specific point in the future for her classes by the end of the
semester.”

Present used to describe currently ongoing (usually temporary) actions “She is writing a paper for her class.”
continuous

Past used to describe ongoing past events, often in relation to the “She was writing a paper for her class
continuous occurrence of another event when her pencil broke.”

Future used to describe future events that are expected to continue “She will be writing a lot of papers for
continuous over a period of time her classes next year.”

Present perfect used to describe events that started in the past and continue “She has been writing a paper all
continuous into the present or were recently completed, emphasizing their night, and now she needs to get some
relevance to the present moment sleep.”

Past perfect used to describe events that began, continued, and ended in “She had been writing a paper all
continuous the past, emphasizing their relevance to a past moment night, and she needed to get some
sleep.”

Future perfect used to describe events that will continue up until a point in “She will have been writing this paper
continuous the future, emphasizing their expected duration for three months when she hands it in.”
• Present Simple
I do
• Present Continuous
I am doing
• Present Perfect
I have done
• Present Perfect Continuous
I have been doing
• Past Simple
I did
• Past Continuous
I was doing
• Past Perfect
I had done
• Past Perfect Continuous
I had been doing
• Future Simple
I will do
• Future Continuous
I will be doing
• Future Perfect
I will have done
• Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been doing