Tenses are form of verb that reflects the time of action happened or happening or will happen. Tenses are generally divided into three forms:
However, they comprise sub-sections to describe the precise time of action. Rules of Tenses aid a student to understand how to use different tenses in a sentence accurately, without making a grammatical error.
| Tense | Rules for Tense |
| Present Simple Tenses | Subject + V1 + s/es + Object (Singular) Subject + V1 + object (Plural) |
| Present Perfect Tense | Subject + has + V3 + Object (Singular) Subject + have + V3 + Object (Plural) |
| Present Continuous Tenses | Subject + is/am/are + V1 + ing + object |
| Present Perfect Continuous Tense | Subject + has been + V1 + ing + Object (Singular) Subject + have been + V1 + ing + Object (Plural) |
| Past Simple Tenses | Subject + V2 + Object |
| Past Perfect Tense | Subject + had + V3 + Object |
| Past Continuous Tenses | Subject + was + V1 + ing + Object (Singular) Subject + were + V1 + ing + Object (Plural) |
| Past Perfect Continuous Tense | Subject + had been + V1 + ing + Object |
| Future Simple Tenses | Subject + will/shall + V1 + Object |
| Future Perfect Tense | Subject + will have/shall have + V3 + Object |
| Future Continuous Tenses | Subject + will be/shall be + V1 + ing + Object |
| Future Perfect Continuous Tense | Subject + will have been + V1 + ing + Object |
The three tenses are further divided into 4 sub parts depending upon their usage and categories, namely:
| Rules For | Singular | Plural |
| Present Tense |
Rule – Subject + V1 + s/es + Object Example – Ashlin plays football. (Here the subject Ashlin is 3rd person singular, so we use ‘s’ with the verb ‘play’) |
Rule: Subject + V1 + object Example – They play football. (Here the subject They is plural and we use the verb ‘play’ without an ‘s’) |
| Past Tense |
Rule – Subject + V2 + Object For past tense, the verb is always plural irrespective of the subject. (without an ‘s’.) Example – He / They played football. (Here, the subject "He" and "They" is followed by "played" , the second form of verb (V2) of "play") |
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| Future Tense |
Rule: Subject + will/shall + V1 + Object For future tense, the verb is always plural irrespective of the subject. (without an ‘s’.) Example – I will play football tomorrow. (In this example, the subject “I� + will is followed by the first form of verb (V1) "play".) |
| Rules For | Singular | Plural |
| Present Tense |
Rule: Subject + is/am/are + V1 + ing + object While employing the tense rules for present continuous, all the verb form for singular or plural subject stays in its first form V1 Example: I am playing/ Radhika is painting / They are dancing Here the subject "I" or "Radhika" or "They" is followed by 'am' 'is' or 'are' respectivly. The first form of verb (V1) here is “play� and we added “ing� to it to make it continuous. Same like paint -> painting dance -> dancing |
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| Past Tense |
Rule – Subject + was + V1 + ing + Object Example – Naina was cleaning the house Here, the subject "Naina" + 'was' is followed by the first form of verb (V1) "clean" + "ing" |
Rule: Subject + were + V1 + ing + Object Example: They were cleaning the house. Here, the subject is "They" + were is followed by the first form of verb (V1) “clean� + “ing� |
| Future Tense |
Rule: Subject + will be/shall be + V1 + ing + Object Example – Hashna / They will be coming to my house tomorrow Here the subject "Hashna" / "They" + will be is followed by the first form of verb (V1) "come" + ing |
| Rules For | Singular | Plural |
| Present Tense |
Rule: Subject + has + V3 + Object Example: Romia has cleaned the floors. Here, "Romia" is the subject + has "cleaned" followed by the third form of verb "clean". |
Rule – Subject + have + V3 + Object Example – They have cleaned the floors. Here, "They" is the subject + have followed by the third form of verb "wash". |
| Past Tense |
Rule – Subject + had + V3 + Object Example – Manisha had worked in that company. Here the subject "Manisha" + had is followed by the third form of verb (V3) "worked". |
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| Future Tense |
Rule: Subject + will have/shall have + V3 + Object Example – Manisha shall have covered all the notebooks by tomorrow. Here, the subject is "Manisha" + shall have is followed by the third form of Verb (V3) "covered" |
| Rules For | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Present Tense |
Rule – Subject + has been + V1 + ing + Object Example – Ruhi has been working since morning Here, the subject "Ruhi" + has been is followed the the first form of verb "working" + ing |
Rule: Subject + have been + V1 + ing + Object Example – They have been working since morning. Here the subject "They" + have been is followed by the first form of verb "work" + ing |
| Past Tense |
Rule – Subject + had been + V1 + ing + Object Example – Mohit had been taking care of his brother from last two days. Here the subject "Mohit" + had been is followed the first form of verb (V1) of "take" + ing |
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| Future Tense |
Rule – Subject + will have been + V1 + ing + Object Example – He shall have been living here since 2015 Here, the subject "he" + shall have been is followed by the first form of verb "live" + ing |