Each language has means to express the past, present and future, the so called real time. The English language, similarly to other languages, has also devices informing about how the activity was performed. Thus, in addition to the past-present-future dimension, the tenses hold information if, for example, a given activity is performed habitualy, had been performed before another past activity, the speaker wants to emphasize completion of an action, and the like.

The English tenses can be depicted in a table whose one dimension corresponds to the real time and another one to the mode of action.

Simple Continuoous (or Progressive) Perfect Perfect Continuous Present Past Future Future-in-the-Past NB: The Future-in-the-Past is a real time dimension which expresses actions which were in the future at the time of speaking. However, the time of speaking was in the past. (for example: Last time I saw you you were about to apply for a new job). It is also used in the Reported Speech to report sentences expressed originally in any of the future tenses. Remember also that whatever mode of activity is expressed by a given tense, the tense remains GRAMATICALLY what its name indicates. For example, the Present Perfect can be used to express past actions whose time is not definite. However, gramatically, the Present Perfect tense remains PRESENT. It is important to remember that when using the Reported Speech with the SEQUENCE OF TENSES. Please note that the Simple Past tense is used to express past actions whose time is definite. Thus, both the Present Perfect and the Past Simple can be used to express past actions, albeit their diferent aspects, but GRAMATICALLY the Present Perfect is always PRESENT and the Past Simple is PAST. The implications of real time vs. grammatical tense are reflected in the Reported Speech with the Sequence of Tenses.

As you can see, the division of the tenses into sixteen different ones is logical. Can you think of the English names of the tenses to fill in the table below? Some of the names have been already supplied. What are the remaining names? The next slide reveals all the names. Simple Continuoous (or Progressive) Perfect Perfect Continuous Present Present Simple Past Past Perfect Continuous Future Future Perfect Future-in-the-Past Future Perfect in the Past

Simple Continuoous (or Progressive) Perfect Perfect Continuous Present Present Simple Present Continuous Present Perfect Present Perfect Continuous Past Past Simple Past Continuous Past Perfect Past Perfect Continuous Future Future Simple Future Continuous Future Perfect Future Perfect Continuous Future-in-the-Past Future-in-the-Past Simple Future-in-the-Past Continuous Future-in-the-Past Perfect Future-in-the-Past Perfect Continuous

In order to form sentences in a given tense you should know its structure. The structure consists of an auxiliary verb and a verb carrying the menaing. For example, in the sentence I have lived in Paris for three years the verb ”have” only helps to form the tense (Present Perfect), hence the name auxiliary. The verb ”live” carries the meaning. The auxiliary verb, or verbs, is/are the same for all sentences formed in a given tense. The meaning-carrying verbs do change. The table below provides structures for some of the tenses. Can you provide, based on logical premises, the remaining structures? Simple Continuoous (or Progressive) Perfect Perfect Continuous Present HAVE HAS Past DID V2 WAS WERE Future Future-in-the-Past WOULD HAVE BEEN + V-ing V denotes a meaning-carrying verb + V3 + V-ing

The ACTIVE Form Simple Continuoous (or Progressive) Perfect Perfect Continuous Present DO DOES V1 (+s in 3rd person singular) AM IS ARE HAVE HAS Past DID V2 WAS WERE HAD + V3 HAD + BEEN + V-ing Future WILL +V1 WILL BE + V-ing WILL HAVE +V3 WILL HAVE BEEN + V-ing Future-in-the-Past WOULD +V1 WOULD BE + V-ing WOULD HAVE +V3 WOULD HAVE BEEN + V-ing + V-ing + BEEN + V-ing + V3 + V-ing

The ACTIVE Form - examples Simple Continuoous (or Progressive) Perfect Perfect Continuous Present I live in London. She lives in London. Do you live in London? Does she live in London? I don’t live in London. She doesn’t live in London She is living in London. Is she living in London? She is not living in London. She has lived in London. Has she lived in London? She hasn’t lived in London. She has been living in London. Has she been living in London? She has not been living in London. Past She lived in Lonodn. Did she live in London? She did not live in London. She was living in London. Was she living in London? She was not living in London. She had lived in London. Had she lived in London? She hadn’t lived in London. She had been living in London. Had she been living in London? She had not been living in London. Future She will live in London. Will she live in London? She will not live in London. She will be living in London. Will she be living in London? She will not be living in London. She will have lived in London. Will she have lived in London? She will not have lived in London. She will have been living in London. Will she have been living in London? She will not have been living in London. Future-in-the-Past She would live in London. Would she live in London? She would not live in London. She would be living in London. Would she be living in London? She would not be living in London. She would have lived in London. Would she have lived in London? She would not have lived in London. She would have been living in London. Would she have been living in London? She would not have been living in London.

The table presenting the ACTIVE forms of verbs in various tenses will be referred to in several sections of the study guide, for example in the Reported Speech and the Passive Voice sections.