ENGLISH TENSES (12) FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS

The FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE is formed using “will have been” with the -ing form of the verb (e.g. I will have been working).

 The future perfect continuous tense is used to emphasise the duration of an action.


 e.g. “In 2020, we will have been running for 70 years.” (In this article, “we” is The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.)

 Another common use of this tense, which does not appear to be mentioned in the textbooks, is to speculate about something that happened in the past

 e.g. “Cottam started operating in 1969 and is capable of powering around 3.7m homes, though in recent years it will have been operating well below its maximum capacity.”

 e.g. “This rope will have been slowly breaking down in the sun and shedding tiny bits of micro fibre into the sea for animals to ingest.”


Photo credit: James Stringer

ENGLISH TENSES (11) FUTURE PERFECT SIMPLE

The FUTURE PERFECT SIMPLE TENSE is formed using “will have” with the past participle of the verb (e.g. I will have worked).

 The future perfect simple tense is used:


 (1) to describe an action finishing before a time in the future, e.g. “By July this year, the bursary trainees will have achieved their ‘intermediate’ qualification and be ready to start their careers as professional dry stone wallers.”


 (2) when a future time is implied or is not stated, e.g., “Candidates will have experience in children’s fiction publishing, and will have worked on both illustrated and non-illustrated titles.”


 (3) to make a deduction about something that has already happened, e.g. “Badgers will have lived in that sett for perhaps hundreds of years. Badgers don’t like to be moved.”

Photo credit: Tim Brookes

ENGLISH TENSES (10) FUTURE CONTINUOUS

The FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE is formed using “will be” with the -ing form of a verb
 (e.g. I will be working).

 The future continuous tense is used:


 (1) to describe something that will happen at a given point in the future, e.g. “The South Devon Railway has announced that steam locomotive 1501 will be visiting them in 2019.”

 (2) to speculate about what is happening in the present, e.g. “It is autumn, and many people will not be using their pools at the moment, but they will still be full of water and we all know water is very enticing to children.”


Photo credit: ianpreston

ENGLISH TENSES (9) FUTURE SIMPLE

The FUTURE SIMPLE TENSE is formed using “will” with the base form (root) of a verb
 (e.g. I will work).

 The future simple tense is used:


 (1) to express certainty about a future event, e.g. “I will be 70 this year, so I come from an age before plastic.”


 (2) to communicate a decision made at the time of speaking, e.g. “I’ll have the chicken curry” (I'll = I will)


 (3) to predict something, e.g. “Talking about the technology behind the project, Drax chief executive Andy Koss said: ‘I think it will make a huge difference to the business and for our employees. I think it will give us a longer future.’”

 (4) to express determination, e.g. “To celebrate my 50th birthday I will complete a run across Europe, from the Netherlands to Estonia.”


 (5) to make a promise or threat, e.g. “I am on annual leave until dd/mm/yyyy. I will allow each sender one email and if you send me multiple emails, I will randomly delete your emails until there is only one remaining.”


Photo credit: Ian Britton

ENGLISH TENSES (8) PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

The PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE is formed using “had been” with the -ing form of a verb (e.g. I had been working).

 The past perfect continuous tense is used to describe a past action that continues up to another past action, e.g. “The moose had been walking around outside the house in Breckenridge when it fell into a window well early Friday morning and crashed through into the basement.”

In other words, as the song says, “hoots mon there’s a moose loose aboot this hoose” 😃

  Photo credit: Tony’s Takes

ENGLISH TENSES (7) PAST PERFECT SIMPLE

The PAST PERFECT SIMPLE TENSE is formed using “had” with the past participle of a verb
 (e.g. I had worked).

 The past perfect simple tense is used:


 (1) to discuss an action that happened before another action in the past, e.g. “Theo had visited London before his marriage”


 (2) to express regret, e.g. “I wish I had visited San Borjitas by helicopter.”

 Photo credit: Robert Shea

ENGLISH TENSES (6) PAST CONTINUOUS

The PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE is formed using was/were with the -ing form of a verb
 (e.g. I was working).

 The past continuous tense is used for:


 (1) an action that took place at a specific time in the past, e.g. “This time last year, everyone was talking about the Leonardo da Vinci that sold to the Louvre Abu Dhabi for $450 million.”


 (2) an action interrupted by another action, e.g. “These delays meant electric trains were not running on these lines when the timetable overhaul happened.”


 (3) two simultaneous actions, e.g. “The snake bit the woman while she was visiting Whixall Moss, near Whitchurch, north Shropshire, on Saturday afternoon.”

 (4) setting (describing) a scene, e.g. “‘It was raining hard, the wind was blowing, the rough was high and it was hard to reach certain greens,’ he said.”


 Photo credit: Sue Cro

ENGLISH TENSES (5) PAST SIMPLE

The PAST SIMPLE TENSE is formed using the past participle (typically ending in -ed) of a verb (e.g. I worked).

 The past simple tense is used for:


 (1) a past action with a time marker, e.g. “A Government Minister visited Bradford College yesterday to see how the college helps its students into work.”


 (2) past events that no longer continue, e.g. “Thousands of years ago, lava flowed across these wetlands, cooling into huge petrified tubes and creating surreal formations.”

 (3) polite requests or suggestions, e.g. “I wondered if I might see you here. I’d very much like to discuss your work, if you have a moment.”


 (4) hypothetical present/future situations, e.g. “If I lived in England I’d like to live in Clitheroe.”


Photo credit: mariejirousek

ENGLISH TENSES (4) PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

The PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE (also known as the present perfect progressive tense) is formed using  “has/have been” with the -ing form of a verb
 (e.g. I have been working).

 The present perfect continuous tense is used for:

 (1) a past action that still continues, e.g. “For years, the monks have been baking bread rolls and growing vegetables to help people struggling to feed themselves and their families, and they said it seems the situation is getting worse.”

 (2) a past action with results that continue to the present, e.g. “Claudia Winkleman And Tess Daly Have Been Dancing All Night For Comic Relief” (article headline)


 Photo credit: macleodfamily

ENGLISH TENSES (3) PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE

The PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE TENSE is formed using the present tense of the verb “to have” with the past participle (typically ending in -ed) of a verb (e.g. I have worked).

 The present perfect simple tense is used:

 (1) for actions that began in the past and continue to the present, e.g. “I have lived in Scotland full-time for the last 20 years.”

 (2) for actions that recently finished whose results remain, e.g. “I have lost seven stone since January this year.”


 (3) for actions that happened in the past, for which no time is specified, e.g. “I have visited lots of businesses across the country and met and spoken to many fantastic and talented apprentices.”


 (4) with words such as already, just and still,

 e.g. “At the age of just 21, she has already written a handful of books, the latest of which recalls her own arrival in the UK.”

 “He has just visited Palmerston North to give a public talk about his ‘travels in autism.’”

 “It’s the age of social media and there’s nothing that my family doesn’t know. But they have still disowned me.”


 Photo credit: Antonio Cinotti

ENGLISH TENSES (2) PRESENT CONTINUOUS

The PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE is formed using the present tense of the verb “to be” with the -ing form of a verb (e.g. I am working).

This tense is also sometimes called the present progressive.

The present continuous tense is used for:

(1) describing what you are doing at the time you are speaking, e.g. “I am working to improve bus reliability in Romford, using new technology that tells the traffic signals if a bus is running late against its schedule.”

(2) describing a temporary state or action, e.g. “I have lost over £40,000 so far and at the moment I am living off savings after selling my house.”

(3) using with “always” to describe a habit, e.g. “I am always cooking and being creative.”

(4) describing future arrangements, e.g. “I am going to Germany in October and decided to book in August as I thought it would be cheaper.”


Photo credit: Steven’s Transport Photos

ENGLISH TENSES (1) PRESENT SIMPLE

The English language has twelve tenses – four present, four past and four future, and these are all taught in courses for people learning English as a second language.

 Strangely, many native speakers, while they use these tenses regularly, are unable to identify them all, probably because they were not always taught in schools. From my own point of view, I learned to identify the twelve tenses only after obtaining a certificate in teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL). Before then, while I could use them correctly, I could not have named them all.

 PRESENT SIMPLE TENSE
 (e.g. I work.)

 Unlike many other languages, in English, we don’t use the present simple tense to describe something that we are doing now. We use the PRESENT CONTINUOUS for that, which will be covered in the next post in this series.

 The present simple tense is used for:

 (1) describing a habit (something we do regularly), e.g. “I go to the market to buy food every day.”

 (2) describing a (semi)permanent situation, e.g. “I live in Glasgow – a fantastic city.”

 (3) stating a fact, e.g. “Most geese fly south for the winter”

 (4) imperatives (commands or instructions), e.g. “Don’t [you] touch the wet paint” (The word “you” is normally omitted in such commands.)

 (5) newspaper headlines, e.g. “Hamilton Place fire causes Edinburgh travel disruption”

 (6) events planned for the future, e.g. “Tomorrow I go to the Capital for the Senate Health Committee Meeting where AB 1971 is on the agenda to be heard.”

 (7) narrative (historical present), e.g. “His athlete lottery funding eventually ceased and he says some people who had shown concern at first have since faded into the shadows.”

 Photo credit: Eduards Osis