FluencyLab
GrammarHub
Choose tense and aspect by combining time reference, completion, duration, background, sequence and future viewpoint.
Overview
Choose tense and aspect by combining time reference, completion, duration, background, sequence and future viewpoint.
Form and rules
Distinguish routine/state from current temporary activity in the present.
Distinguish finished past time from past events connected to now.
Use perfect continuous forms when duration/activity is more important than completed result.
Use narrative past tenses to show main events, background and earlier events.
Choose future forms according to the speaker's reason for talking about the future.
A closer look
Use narrative past tenses to show main events, background and earlier events.
Choose future forms according to the speaker's reason for talking about the future.
Examples
I've been waiting for forty minutes.
She had left before I arrived.
He usually drives, but he's taking the train today.
We met in 2021 and have stayed in touch since then.
I'm flying to Recife on Friday.
Common mistakes
Since + a continuing state uses present perfect simple.
An action in progress at a past moment uses past continuous.
Ready to practise?
The test combines multiple choice, gap completion, error correction, and sentence building so students have to recognise and produce the grammar, not simply reread the rule.