VERB TENSE REVIEW 1

TIME
English tenses have two elements of meaning: time and aspect. Remember that time is not the
same as tense. Do the following sentences refer to the present, past or future time?
Your plane leaves at 10.00
In the book the heroine goes back to her youth
I’ve had a perfectly
I wish I knew the answer, but I don’t.
I could come tomorrow, if you like. wonderful evening,
ASPECT but this wasn’t it.
The 3 aspects add another layer of meaning to the action of the Groucho
verb. Marx
 Simple: action seen as a complete whole.
 Continuous: action seen as having duration.
 Perfect: action seen as completed before another time
The choice of verb form depends on many factors, and not on a set of rigid grammatical rules.
Read Marx’s joke. Can you explain it to your partner?

What’s the difference?

I ask my husband to mend this door Who’s been drinking my beer?

everyday. Who’s drunk my beer?
I have been asking my husband to mend this Who drank my beer?
door for 2 years.
I have asked my husband to mend this door He hit me
for 2 years. He was hitting me

He always buys me books and CDs

He’s always buying me books CDs He is silly
He is being silly
I’ll talk to Sean about it tomorrow.
I’ll be talking to Sean about it tomorrow. They’ve been married for 20 years.
I’m going to talk to Sean about it tomorrow. They were married for 20 years.
I’m talking to Sean about it tomorrow
I will have talked to Sean about it by I come from Scotland
tomorrow. I’ve come from Scotland.

Will you be using the computer for long?
Are you going to be using the computer for
long?
I’ve read the book
I’ve been reading the book
When I’ve talked to him, I’ll tell you
When I talk to him, I’ll tell him
The report will be finished by Friday
The report will be finished on Friday
The report will have been finished by Friday

My father wore a suit to work Did you ever meet Tom’s father?
My father was wearing a suit to work Have you ever met Tom’s father?

I live with my friends I wish I knew the way

I’m living with my friends I wish I had known the way

Is it possible to change the verb forms in these sentences from simple to continuous or
continuous to simple. What is the change in meaning? Why is the change sometimes not
possible?

1. Everyone’s very nice to me. I don’t know why.

2. I’ll see Linda later.
3. I’ve cut my finger. It’s really hurting.
4. David always gives Pam expensive presents.
5. What do you do?
6. He fired a gun.
7. She was dying.
8. I’ve been checking my emails.
9. The train leaves in five minutes.
10. That room is used as a study.
 Complete the sentences below with either the past perfect or the simple past forms of

The years in office (make) _______________ some difference in John Kennedy. He (be)
_______________ older looking now. He still (move) _______________ quickly and gracefully,
however, and his confidence and humour (not diminish) _______________.
When President Kennedy (announce) _______________ his plans for a trip to Dallas, many
members of his staff (be concerned) _______________ for his safety. The business leaders of
Dallas _______________ (be) angry about some his liberal policies, and (show) _______________
their bitter opposition to the Kennedy Administration during the visit of his aide, Adlai
Stevenson, one month earlier. Stevenson (be heckled) _______________ during his speech, and a
crowd of pickets (push) _______________ against him when he (walk) _______________ out of the
hall.
In spite of his staff’s concern, Kennedy (decide) _______________ to make the trip to
Dallas. When he (see) _______________ the large, cheering crowd along the parade route, he (be)
_______________ glad that he (decide) _______________ to come. He (wave) _______________ to the
the verbs in parentheses.

Put the verb in brackets into the correct tense.

When I (open) _______ the door I (see) ___________ a man on his knees. He clearly (listen)
_______________ to our conversation and I (wonder) _______________ how much he (hear)
_______________. When I (ask) _______________ him what he (do) ______________, he (say)
_______________ that he (drop) _______________ a 50p piece outside the door and (look)
_______________ for it. I (not see) _______________ any sign of the money, but I (find)
_______________ a small notebook and pencil which he probably (drop) _______________ when the
door (open) _______________ suddenly. So he (take) _______________ notes of our conversation!.
The notes (be) _______________ written in a foreign language, so I (turn) _______________ to the
stranger and (ask) _______________ him to translate. But he (pull) _______________ my hat over
my eyes and (run) _______________ off down the corridor. By the time I (recover) _ ______________
from the shock he (disappear) _______________ round the corner.
Curiously enough, when I (move) _______________ my foot I (find) ______________ that I (stand)
_______________
Complete on a 50p
this story piece.
with Perhaps past
the correct he (tell)
form_______________
of the verbsthe
in truth after all!
brackets. You may need to
use the passive.

A detective ______________ (walk) along the corridor of a large hotel. Suddenly, he ______________
(hear) a woman’s voice. “No! Don’t shoot me, John!” Then there ______________ (be) a shot. The
detective ______________ (run) to the room where the shot ______________ (come) from and
______________ (burst) in. In one corner ______________ (lie) a dead woman in the middle of the
room ______________ (be) the gun that ______________ (use) to shoot her. On the other side of the
room ______________ (stand) a postman, a lawyer and an accountant. The detective
______________ ( look) at them for a moment, then ______________ (go) up to the postman
______________ (grab) him and ______________ (say), “I am arresting you for murder”. The
detective ______________
Are these sentences(never see)What’s
correct? any of the
thepeople in the between
difference room before. How ______________
them?
I have been waiting here for twenty
minutes.
I’ve been ironing shirts since ten o’clock.
I’m waiting here for twenty minutes.
I’ve ironed eight shirts.
I have waited for twenty minutes.
I’ve known the secret for a long time.
I wait here for twenty minutes.
I’ve been knowing the secret for a long time.
I’ve been writing an essay. I’m tired now.
I’ve written an essay. We’ve been living here since 1992.
I’ve been writing 3 essays. We’ve lived here since 1992.
 When I got to the station, everybody went
home
I’ve been living in London for a month.
When I got to the station, everybody was
I’ve lived in London for 10 years
going home
When I got to the station, everybody had
gone home
Read this account of a real-life rescue and correct any mistakes in the verb forms.

The call came through on the emergency phone, the direct link to ambulance control. It
R
was clipped , to the point, the way they always are. A man was stung by bees in
e
Wymondham. a
It was only a ten-minute drive from the ambulance base station at Attleborough to d
Wymondham. On the way the crew, Steve Mortley and Dave Money, tried to work out the
possibilities, to prepare themselves for what they might to find . They were deciding the
most likely thing was a straightforward bee sting; somebody had panicked and was
calling them out, and by now everybody would be a bit embarrassed when they turned
up because he wasn’t needing any treatment at all. It often happened.
Dave Money recognized the house when they had arrived , and realized he was knowing
the people involved. It was always an unsettling feeling; casualties are normally
strangers.
He was first out of the ambulance. He snatched up the emergency case and ran down the
side of the bungalow. He recognized Ross Wallace. He stood in the window, pointing
urgently to the back of the house and the garden.
When he was getting to the corner of the building he could see Peter lying, face down, in
the grass. Even from there he could see the air above his body was thick with bees. He
took a step forward and had called out to him, but there was no response. He went a few
the following jokes in pairs. Which tense are the verbs in? What’s your favourite?

INTERVIEWER (to 90-year old woman) :

“Have you spent all your life on this farm?
90-YEAR-OLD WOMAN: “Not yet”

PEGGY: How did you come

TOM:” How disgusting! I’ve to marry Molly?
just found a worm in this DAVID: “ I didn’t come to
apple” marry Molly. I came to read
KEN:” It would have been the gas meter”
more disgusting to find half
a worm.”

TEACHER: “Pam, tell

me the simple present
of the verb “ to John: “Do you ever
walk”.” disagree with your “Did you hear about old
PAM (very slowly) “I wife?” Tom?”
walk…you walk… he Peter: “Very often, “No, what happened to
walks…” but she doesn’t him?”
TEACHER: A bit know it”. “He fell dead at the pub door
faster, please.
yesterday.”
PAM: SheAt runs, we
a wedding reception. “Was he going in or coming
run, they run…”
TIM (looking at the bride in out?”
surprise) : “You don’t look “He was going in.”
tired at all.” “What bad luck”
BRIDE: “Should I? Why?
TIM: “Well, Mummy just
said that you’d been
running after Henry Smith
for six years.”