All Tenses: C1–C2
Use familiar forms to control time, emphasis and distance.
I can choose and explain tense and aspect to make my timeline, viewpoint and intended meaning clear.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Choose a short recording.
Start
What can you safely conclude?
A colleague says, “I’ve been rewriting the introduction.” Has the colleague definitely finished? Explain what you know and what you would need to ask.
Possible response
The speaker presents rewriting as an activity connected with now. The sentence alone does not tell me whether the introduction is finished. I could ask, “Is it ready to send?”
Separate the meaning of the form from an assumption about completion.
Learn
Scan the twelve familiar forms for about ninety seconds. Read across from meaning to example. Keep this map available during the lesson; use its audio buttons when needed.
Tense map: forms, meanings and examples
Present simple
base form / -s
A state, regular event, summary or schedule.
The gallery opens at ten.
Present continuous
am/is/are + -ing
An activity viewed from inside, or a temporary situation.
I’m reviewing the labels this week.
Present perfect simple
have/has + past participle
A situation connected with now: result, experience or continuing state.
I’ve known the curator for years.
Present perfect continuous
have/has been + -ing
An activity or its duration leading up to now.
I’ve been editing since breakfast.
Past simple
past form
An event, state or habit located in the past.
The guard found an empty frame.
Past continuous
was/were + -ing
A scene or activity in progress at a past point.
Visitors were queuing when the alarm sounded.
Past perfect simple
had + past participle
A situation viewed as earlier than a past point.
Someone had moved the portrait before opening time.
Past perfect continuous
had been + -ing
An activity or duration leading up to a past point.
The team had been checking the cameras for an hour when I arrived.
Future simple with will
will + base form
A prediction, decision, promise or offer about the future.
I’ll send you the updated schedule tonight.
Future continuous
will be + -ing
An activity in progress at a future point.
At noon tomorrow, we’ll be interviewing the witnesses.
Future perfect simple
will have + past participle
A situation viewed from a later future point.
By Friday, we’ll have restored three frames.
Future perfect continuous
will have been + -ing
Duration of an activity up to a future point.
By Friday, we’ll have been restoring frames for a month.
- Here, “all tenses” is the practical classroom label for tense and aspect combinations, including future forms with will. The advanced work is in how you use them.
- Negative: put not after the first auxiliary: has not been working. Question: move that auxiliary before the subject: Has she been working? With present or past simple lexical verbs, use do/does/did + base form: Did she leave?
- Present simple also gives schedules; present continuous gives arrangements. Be going to gives intentions or predictions based on present evidence. These are additional future constructions, not additional rows in the tense system.
- For gives a period; since gives a starting point. They do not automatically require a continuous form: I have known her for years.
1. Aspect: what are you claiming?
A tense helps locate your reference point; aspect shapes your view of a situation. Simple forms can express continuing states: I’ve known her for years. Continuous forms focus on an activity, not whether it eventually finishes. I’ve been painting the room can be said after you stop. Verb meaning also matters: I think introduces an opinion; I’m thinking describes active consideration. Choose the form that matches your intended claim, then make completion explicit if it matters.
Form help
- Present perfect connects a situation with now; past simple places it in a finished past setting: I revised it yesterday.
- I read the report presents a whole past event. I was reading it presents an inside view, without stating whether I finished.
- I have lived here for ten years and I have been living here for ten years can both describe a continuing situation; the continuous foregrounds the activity or situation over that period.
I think the title is misleading, so I’m thinking about changing it.
Think is an opinion first and active consideration second.
I’ve been repainting the room, and I’ve finished the ceiling.
The first clause presents the activity; the second confirms a completed part.
You say
Explain a task you have been doing. Add a separate sentence that makes its completion status clear.
Possible response
I’ve been sorting my photographs. I’ve finished the family album, but I still have two folders to organise.
Check: Use the continuous for the activity, then state what is finished or still left.
Try again: Change the outcome: explain that the whole task is now finished.
2. Keep the story’s reference point clear
In a past narrative, past simple usually carries the main events. Past continuous shows a scene in progress. Past perfect steps back to an earlier situation; past perfect continuous highlights an earlier activity or duration. Once the earlier sequence is clear, you do not need past perfect in every sentence. A storyteller can also choose a present viewpoint: So I open the door, and everyone is staring at me. Keep that shift deliberate and the timeline clear.
Form help
- Use the four past forms for their jobs, not merely to make a story sound advanced.
- Time expressions and context may establish the order without past perfect: After I locked the door, I left.
- In a film or story summary, the present simple can describe fictional events even when the work was created in the past.
The guard was checking the doors when he noticed the empty frame. Someone had moved the portrait.
The first clause gives background; noticed advances the story; had moved steps back.
The staff had been searching for an hour when the curator arrived.
The search is presented as continuing up to the past arrival.
You say
Tell this in two past-tense sentences: a photographer moved a portrait before opening time; staff searched for twenty minutes; then the curator arrived.
Possible response
The photographer had moved the portrait before opening time. The staff had been searching for twenty minutes when the curator arrived.
Check: Make the earlier move, the earlier duration and the later arrival clear.
Try again: Add a background activity in progress when the curator arrived.
3. Look forward from now, or from then
At noon tomorrow places us inside a future scene. By noon tomorrow lets us look back from a future point; adding for two hours can highlight accumulated duration. Future forms are choices of viewpoint, not automatic responses to one time word. Present forms also describe schedules and arrangements; going to can express a plan or a prediction based on current evidence. Viewed from the past, later events may use would, was going to or was due to. These forms alone do not prove whether a plan happened.
Form help
- At noon, we’ll be repairing it: activity in progress. By noon, we’ll have repaired it: repair complete by that point.
- By noon, we’ll have been repairing it for two hours: duration assessed at noon; this does not say the work must stop then.
- In ordinary future time clauses, use a present form: Once we have checked the labels, we’ll open the room.
Mira said she would call on Friday, and she did.
Would presents a later event from the earlier conversation; the ending supplies the outcome.
We were going to open in May, but the repairs took longer than expected.
The but-clause establishes that the original plan did not happen as intended.
You say
Describe what will be in progress at a future time and what will be complete by a later time.
Possible response
At eleven tomorrow, I’ll be interviewing a candidate. By midday, I’ll have written my notes.
Check: Distinguish being inside the activity from looking back at its completion.
Try again: Add how long an activity will have been continuing by a future point.
4. Report time without changing the claim
Backshift can align a report with a past viewpoint; it does not say that the information is now false. You can retain a present form when you present information as still valid: Lea said the gallery is open on Sundays. Passive voice changes the focus, while the auxiliaries locate time: is being restored, had been restored. A perfect infinitive also expresses an earlier situation: is believed to have been moved places the move before the current belief. It is not an additional tense.
Form help
- She said she was tired reports tiredness at the time of speaking. Whether she is still tired needs context.
- Had been restoring is continuous and active; had been restored is perfect and passive. Look beyond had been.
- Avoid a dense stack when a clear clause will do: “It may have been undergoing repairs” can be clearer than “It may have been being repaired”.
Lea said the gallery is open on Sundays; that is still its published policy.
The present form explicitly presents the policy as current.
The portrait is believed to have been moved yesterday.
Is gives the current reporting viewpoint; to have been moved gives an earlier passive event.
You say
Report this information as currently valid: last week Jo told you, “The gallery closes at six.” Begin “Jo told me…”
Possible response
Jo told me that the gallery closes at six.
Check: Retain present simple because this version presents the closing time as current.
Try again: Now report Jo’s words “I’m tired” from yesterday, using a past reporting viewpoint.
5. Past forms can express distance
Past forms do more than locate events before now. I was wondering if you could help can soften a request you are making now. If I knew describes an imagined present situation; if I had known can describe an unreal past. Keep the condition and result times separate. If I had kept the receipt, I could prove ownership now links an unreal past action to a present result. The meaning comes from the whole construction and its context.
Form help
- An unreal past condition can have a past result: If I had checked yesterday, I would have spotted the mistake then.
- It can instead have a present result: If I had checked yesterday, I would know the answer now.
- A continuing trait can help explain an unreal past result: If I were generally more organised, I wouldn’t have missed yesterday’s deadline.
I was wondering if you could explain the last figure.
A past form helps soften a present request; it need not describe a request made earlier.
If I had kept the receipt, I could prove ownership now.
The condition concerns a past action; the imagined consequence concerns now.
You say
You deleted your notes yesterday, so you cannot explain a decision now. Express the unreal past condition and its present consequence.
Possible response
If I hadn’t deleted my notes yesterday, I could explain the decision now.
Check: Use past perfect for the unreal past condition and a present-result modal construction.
Try again: Add a polite request for a colleague to help you recover the information.
Practise · 8 min
Practise choosing the claim
Make a first attempt, then reveal the answer and its reason. In a transformation, preserve the stated meaning; natural equivalent wording is welcome.
Which statement safely follows from “I’ve been rewriting the introduction”?
Rewriting is presented as an activity; completion is not stated. The continuous foregrounds the activity. Extra context is needed before claiming that the result is finished or unfinished.Answer and explanation
Show active consideration happening now. Complete with think: “I ___ about changing the title.”
am thinking Thinking here is an activity, not an opinion introduced by I think that.Answer and explanation
Emphasise duration leading up to my past arrival: “When I arrived, Jo ___ for half an hour.” Use wait.
had been waiting Past perfect continuous makes the waiting extend up to the past arrival.Answer and explanation
Choose the pair that puts us inside the tour at two, then looks back at its completion by three: “At two, we ___ guests; by three, we ___ the tour.”
will be guiding / will have finished Future continuous opens the future scene; future perfect presents the completed tour by the later point.Answer and explanation
With no further context, what does “I was going to ring her on Friday” tell us?
The speaker had an intention; the outcome is not stated. Was going to locates an intention in the past. A continuation such as and I did or but I forgot supplies the outcome.Answer and explanation
Retain the present form to present this as the artist’s current practice: “A brochure I read last week said that the artist ___ recycled paper.” Use use.
uses The task asks for a present viewpoint on a current practice. Used could occur in a backshifted report, but that is not the requested choice here.Answer and explanation
What does “The painting had been restored before the curator arrived” present?
Restoration was complete before the past arrival. Had been restored is past perfect passive. Restored is a past participle, not an -ing form.Answer and explanation
You did not save your notes yesterday, so you cannot quote them now. Complete: “If I ___ my notes yesterday, I could quote them now.”
had saved Past perfect gives the unreal past condition; could quote refers to the present consequence.Answer and explanation
Listen · 6 min
A morning briefing at the gallery
It is morning. Listen to this fictional briefing once for the timeline, then answer the four questions. Replay once if needed. Open the transcript after your first attempt.
Read the transcript
At yesterday’s gallery meeting, we thought a portrait had disappeared. The security team had been examining the recordings for an hour when the curator walked in. She explained that the portrait was being photographed in the next room. Someone had moved it before opening time but had forgotten to update the list.
The curator said the gallery is closed on Mondays, which remains our current policy. She also said she would send a clearer schedule that evening. That tells you what she intended at the meeting; I have not checked whether she sent it.
This morning, I have been rewriting the labels, and I have completed six. At noon tomorrow, we will be showing the revised display to volunteers. By the end of the day, we will have collected their comments. By next month, I will have been working here for a year.
I was wondering if you could help with the final check. If we had kept the list up to date, we would not be discussing a missing portrait now.
Why did the staff initially misunderstand the portrait’s absence?
The portrait had been moved without the list being updated. The earlier move and unchanged list explain the confusion. From the passage: Someone had moved it before opening time but had forgotten to update the list.Answer and explanation
What can the listener conclude about the clearer schedule?
The curator said she would send it, but the speaker has not confirmed that she did. Would send reports the future viewed from the meeting. The speaker explicitly leaves the outcome unconfirmed. From the passage: I have not checked whether she sent it.Answer and explanation
Which wording explicitly gives a completed quantity of work?
I have completed six. The count of six completed labels states an achieved result. Rewriting foregrounds the activity. From the passage: I have completed six.Answer and explanation
At the end, what does “I was wondering if you could help” do?
Make a softened request for help now. The current briefing asks for help with the final check; the past form supplies polite distance. From the passage: I was wondering if you could help with the final check.Answer and explanation
Quiz and correction · 9 min
Choose one answer for each question. Some questions ask what a sentence guarantees; others specify the viewpoint to express. Only these ten questions contribute to your score.
Speak · 7 min
Explain it with precision
For each task, prepare briefly, speak for about a minute and answer one follow-up. Reveal the model after speaking, check the meaning, then improve one sentence.
Task 1
Give a one-minute explanation of the gallery confusion. Facts: the portrait was moved before opening; staff searched for twenty minutes; a photographer was working with it when the curator arrived; the list was still wrong. End with one unreal past condition and its present consequence.
- The staff were… when…
- Someone had…
- They had been…
- If they had…, they would/could… now.
Possible response
The staff were searching the gallery when the curator arrived. They had been looking for twenty minutes because someone had moved the portrait before opening without updating the list. A photographer was working with it in the next room. If the team had updated the list, we wouldn’t be trying to explain the confusion now.
- The earlier move and search are separate from the arrival.
- Background and main events have clear roles.
- The final condition concerns the past, and its consequence concerns now.
Try again with one improvement.
Task 2
Give an update about a fictional exhibition. Include an earlier plan and its actual outcome, one activity in progress at a future time, one result complete by a deadline, and a polite request now. You may invent the dates and details.
- We were going to…, but/and…
- At…, we’ll be…
- By…, we’ll have…
- I was wondering if…
Possible response
We were going to open on Monday, but a delivery was delayed. At ten on Friday, we’ll be arranging the final display. By noon, we’ll have checked every label. I was wondering if you could read the introduction before then.
- The outcome of the earlier plan is stated, not merely assumed.
- The future activity and future completed result have different viewpoints.
- The last sentence makes a current request.
Try again with one improvement.
Recap
- Simple and continuous present different views. Neither is a universal test of whether an activity has finished.
- Choose a reference point and make earlier events, ongoing scenes and main events easy to follow.
- Future perfect looks back from a future point; future perfect continuous highlights duration up to that point.
- Backshift adopts a past reporting viewpoint. It does not, by itself, say that the information is false now.
- Past forms can express distance: a polite request, an imagined present or an unreal past. Passive voice changes focus while its auxiliaries carry time.
Compare “The staff had been cleaning” and “The portrait had been cleaned”. What does each present?
Possible response
The first presents an earlier cleaning activity in progress or of some duration. The second is past perfect passive: the portrait’s cleaning was already complete before a later past point.