Time Expressions

Tense / Use / Form / Affirmative / Negative / Interrogative / Time expressions
Present simple / §  Habit
§  General truths & facts
§  Stative verbs
(Think, believe, agree, understand, hate, love, wish, want, forget, like, remember, know, smell, taste, sound, feel, see, hear, seem, cost, have, own, belong, prefer, wonder, appear, weigh, realize ) / §  I/you/they/we
+ verb (base form)
§  he/ she/ it
+ verb-s/ es/ ies
s = writes, sings
es = o/sh/ch/ x/ss/zz
goes/ washes/ watches/ fixes/ misses/ buzzes
ies = consonant+ y
studies / plays / I speak English.
You speak English.
We speak English.
They speak English.
He speaks English.
She speaks English.
It speaks English. / §  I/you/they/we
+ do not (don’t)
+ verb (base form)
** We don’t speak English.
§  he/ she/ it
+ does not (doesn’t)
+ verb (base form).
** She does not speak English. / §  Do + subject
+ verb (base form)
** Do you speak English?
§  Does + subject
+ verb (base form) + other words
** Does he speak English?
§  Wh- + do/does
+ verb (base form)
** When do you speak English?
** Why does she speak English? / usually
always
never
sometimes
rarely
every day / week / month / year
once a day / week / month/ year
occasionally
often
frequently
generally
Present progressive / §  An activity taking place at the moment
§  Near future (planned activity) / §  am / is / are + verb+ing
§  Dance – dancing
§  Lie – lying
§  Run (c.v.c) – running
§  Begin (c.v.c stressed) – beginning
§  Happen – happening / I am singing.
He is singing.
She is singing.
It is singing.
You are singing.
We are singing.
They are singing. / am / is / are + not + verb+ing
I am not singing.
I’m not singing.
She is not singing.
He isn’t singing.
We are not singing.
They aren’t singing. / §  am / is / are + subject + verb+ing + other words
* Are you singing?
* Is she singing?
§  Wh + yes/no question.
* Why are you singing?
* What is he singing?
* When are we singing? / at the moment
at the present
right now
now
tonight
today
next week
tomorrow
Tense / Use / Form / Affirmative / Negative / Interrogative / Time expressions
Present perfect / §  An action in the past but the present result is important
§  An action in the recent past, close to the present
§  Something began in the past and continues to the present / §  I/you/they/we + have + v3
§  he/ she/ it +
has + v3 / I have finished.
You have finished.
We have finished.
They have finished.
He has finished.
She has finished.
It has finished. / §  I/you/they/we + have + not (haven’t) + v3
* I have not finished.
* We haven’t finished.
§  he/ she/ it + has + not (hasn’t) + v3
* He has not finished.
* She hasn’t finished. / §  Have + subject + V3 + other words?
* Have you finished?
Has + subject + V3 + other words?
* Has she finished?
§  Wh + yes/no question?
* Where have you finished?
* What has he finished?
We use (how long) instead of (when) / just
already
ever
never
since
for
recently
lately
Past simple / §  An action that happened and ended in the past / §  Regular verbs: verb+ d/ed/ied
* walk – walked
* dance – danced
* study – studied
* play – played
* stop – stopped
* prefer – preferred
§  Irregular verbs:
* break – broke / I walked.
You walked.
He walked.
She walked.
It walked.
We walked.
They walked. / §  did not (didn’t ) + verb
* I did not walk.
* You didn’t walk.
* He did not walk.
* She didn’t walk. / §  Did + subject + verb + other words?
* Did you walk?
* Did it walk?
§  Wh + yes/no question?
* When did he walk?
* Who walked? / yesterday
last week/ month/ year
ago
in 1990 (year)
Tense / Use / Form / Affirmative / Negative / Interrogative / Time expressions
Past progressive / §  A continuous action in the past
§  A continuous action in the past that was interrupted by another action
§  Two or more actions taking place in the same time / §  I/ he/ she/ it + was + verb+ing
§  you/ we + were+ verb+ing
§  past progressive + (when) + past simple
§  past progressive + (while) + past progressive / * I was writing.
*He was writing.
*You were writing.
*They were writing when the phone rang.
* She was writing while her mother was cooking. / §  I/ he/ she/ it + was + not (wasn’t) verb+ing
* I was not writing.
* She wasn’t writing.
§  you/ we + were+ not (weren’t) verb+ing
* We were not writing.
* They weren’t writing. / §  Was+ subject+ verb+ing + other words?
* Was she writing?
§  Were + subject+ verb+ing + other words?
* Were you writing?
§  Wh + yes/no question?
* Why was he writing?
* When were we writing? / in those days
while
when
at six O’clock
last night
yesterday
ago
Past perfect / §  An action in the past occurred before another action in the past. / §  had + V3
§  The 1st action in past perfect. The 2nd in past simple / The thief had escaped before the police arrived. / had + not (hadn’t) + v3
* The thief had not escaped.
* The thieves hadn’t escape. / §  Had + subject + v3 + other words?
* Had he escaped?
§  Wh + yes/no question?
* Why had he escaped? / before
when
after
ever
never
by the time
Future / §  An activity in the future.
§  Something we have a plan for. / §  will + verb
§  am/is/are + going to + verb / *I will travel.
*She is going to travel. / §  will + not = won’t
* I will not travel.
§  Am/is/are + not + going to+ verb
* He isn’t going to travel. / §  will + subject+ verb+ other words?
* Will she travel?
§  Wh + yes/no question?
* Why will he travel? going to = present progressive / tomorrow
next week/ month/ year
in the future
soon