Tenses Questions with Solutions

Tense shows the time of an action: past, present or future. Each of these has four forms (simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous), giving twelve tenses in all. This topic covers the structure and use of every tense, the forms of regular and irregular verbs, sequence of tenses, and tense usage in conditional sentences. Exam questions mostly test the correct use of tense in context. Key rules to remember: the present perfect ("has finished") is not used with a definite past time such as "yesterday" or "in 2019"; the past perfect ("had left") shows the earlier of two past actions; and in clauses beginning with "when", "if", "before" or "as soon as", the simple present is used for a future meaning ("I will call you when he arrives", not "when he will arrive"). Verbs of state such as "know", "believe", "own" and "contain" are not normally used in continuous tenses. Words like "since", "for", "already", "yet", "just" and "by the time" are strong clues to the tense required. Practise the tenses questions below. Each solution names the tense and explains why it fits the sentence.