SEQUENCING OF TENSES

The 12 main tenses:

Simple present: She writes every day.
Present progressive: She is writing right now.
Simple past: She wrote last night.
Past progressive: She was writing when he
called.
Simple future: She will write tomorrow.
Future progressive: She will be writing when
you arrive.
Present perfect: She has written Chapter 1.
Present perfect progressive: She has been
writing for 2 hours.
Past perfect: She had written Chapter 3 before
she started Chapter 4.
Past perfect progressive: She had been
writing for 2 hours before her friends arrived.
Future perfect: She will have written Chapter
4 before she writes Chapter 5.
Future perfect progressive: She will have been
writing for 2 hours by the time her friends
come over.
 Past Simple & Past Continuous
• I heard a sudden noise, and I ran to check
what caused it.
• She was running when she heard the
explosion.
• At 4 pm last Tuesday, I was working in the
office
• At 4 pm last Monday, I finished work early
and went home.
 Present Perfect Simple
For something that started in the past and continues in the
present:
They've been married for nearly fifty years.
She has lived in Liverpool all her life.

For general experience or actions finished before the time of

speaking

I have never encountered such stupid employment policies.

They have already issued the order.
She hasn’t applied for this position yet.
 Present Perfect Simple
- For actions still taking place with signal words
‘ since’, ‘for’
I have known him since childhood.
She has been an officer for 10 years.
 PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS
For an action continuing for some time ( with
‘since’, ‘for’) with the emphasis on duration
They’ve been changing the procedures since
last year.
He’s been learning Japanese for 2 years
already.
 PAST PERFECT SIMPLE
For an action which happened before some time
in the past
I had applied for a lot of jobs before I started
working in this office.
When they arrived, the guests had already
finished the meal.
 PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
For an action in progress which happened
before a certain time in the past
He had been changing the jobs for years before
he finally decided to set up his own business.
• 1) I have put the money in the machine. (present
perfect)
• 2) I had finished my homework before mom
called me for dinner. (past perfect)
• 3) The class has been outside for recess. (present
perfect)
• 4) Jeff tried to hide the vase because he had
broken it. (past perfect)
• 5) My sister has taken martial arts lessons for six
years. (present perfect)
• 6) I had watched almost all of the show before
the power went off. (past perfect)
• Mia has been competing in flute
competitions recently. (And she will
continue to do so.)
• She has not been working on her project
since this morning.

• We had been speaking to her for an hour

before Linda came.
• Had she been studying a new language
before she moved abroad?
• I was exhausted because I had been jogging.