Tenses | English Grammar for Class 9 PDF Download

Introduction

• Tenses are forms of verbs that indicate the time of an action or event.
• They help in expressing the time, continuity, or completion of an action.

Types of Tenses

• There are three main types of tenses: Present, Past, and Future.
• Each type is further divided into four forms: Simple, Continuous, Perfect, and Perfect Continuous.

Past Tenses

1. Past Perfect Continuous Tense

The Past Perfect Continuous tense is like the Past Perfect tense, but it expresses longer actions in the past before another action in the past.
For example:

• Shalini started waiting at 10 am. Sirisha arrived at 12 am. When Sirisha arrived, Shalini had been waiting for two hours.

Here are some more examples:

• Prakash was very tired. Prakash had been running.
• They could smell cigarettes. you had been smoking.
  Suddenly, my scooter broke down. I was not surprised. It had not been running well for a long time.

2. Past Perfect Tense

When we talk about something that happened in the past we sometimes want to refer back to something that happened before that time. We can use the past perfect tense (had + past participle) to do this.
Look at these two sentences.

• Veena left the house at 6:30 yesterday morning.
• Meena rang Veena’s doorbell at 7:15 yesterday.

Both actions happened in the past so we use the past simple tense. But look at how we can combine the sentences.
Meena rang Veena’s doorbell at 7:15 yesterday but Veena had already left the house.
We use the past perfect (had left) because the action happened before another action in the past (Veena rang the doorbell.)

3. Past Simple Tense

• Used for actions that happened at a specific time in the past.
• Formed using the past form of the verb.
• Examples: She danced at the party. They visited the museum.

4. Past Continuous Tense

• Used for actions that were in progress at a specific time in the past or were happening simultaneously.
• Formed using the past form of "be" + the present participle.
• Examples: He was reading a book. They were playing chess.

Present Tenses

1. Present Perfect Continuous Tense

This tense is used to talk about an action or actions that started in the past and continued until recently or that continue into the future:
We can use it to refer to an action that has finished but you can still see evidence.

• Oh, the kitchen is a mess. Who has been cooking?
• She looks tired. Have you been sleeping properly?

It can refer to an action that has not finished.

• They've been learning English for 10 years and they still don't know very much.
• She has been  been waiting for him for 35 minutes and he still hasn't arrived.

It can refer to a series of actions.

• She's been writing to her regularly for a couple of years.
• He's been phoning his friends all week for an answer.

The present perfect continuous is often used with 'since', 'for', 'all week', 'for days', 'lately', 'recently', 'over the last few months'.

• Sarala hasn't been talking to Sana for weeks.
• They've been working hard on it since a month ages.
• Murthy has  been working here since 2005.

2. Perfect Tense - Forms and Usage

The perfect form is the verb tense used to indicate a completed, or "perfected," action or condition.
Verbs can appear in any one of three perfect tenses: present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect.
Verbs in the perfect form use a form of "have" or "had" + the past participle. (It is the form of the helping verb that indicates the tense.)

• Present Perfect: I have finished my homework already.
• Past Perfect: Rima had watched TV for an hour before lunch.
• Future Perfect: Noori will have finished her homework by the time her parents return.

3. Future Perfect Continuous Tense

The future perfect continuous is used to project ourselves forward in time and to look back. It refers to events or actions in a time between now and some future time are unfinished. It is most often used with a time expression.
The future perfect continuous is composed of two elements:
The future perfect of the verb "to be" (will have been) + the present participle of the main verb (base + ing)
Examples:

• She will have been living in London since 2013.
• Will it have been raining for six days?
• By 2018, they will have been living in that house for 10 years.
• Next month he will have been working here for  10 years.
• When his father returned home at 9.00 p.m, he will  have been learning English for five hours.
• By the next year, I will have been working as a manager  for 14 years.
• We will be making a rest stop in half an hour, because you will have been driving the car for 8 hours by then.

Future Tenses

1. Future Perfect Tense

The future perfect simple is used to explain an activity that will be completed by a certain time in the future. We add time expressions such as by the time, by then, by the year 2020, by March 25th to describe these kinds of activities.
To form the future perfect simple, use will have + V3 (past participle) form of the verb.
Examples:

• By this time next year they will have been married for 40 years.
• If all goes well, by June 2015, I will have finished my degree.
• By 2016, Metro Rail project will have been completed in Hyderabad.
• The final examination result will have been announced by April 25th.
• The Hussain sagar lake will have been filled by next monsoon.

2. Future Simple Tense

• Used for actions that will happen in the future.
• Formed using "will" + the base form of the verb.
• Examples: She will visit her grandparents. They will watch a movie.

3. Future Continuous Tense

• Used for actions that will be in progress at a specific time in the future.
• Formed using "will be" + the present participle.
• Examples: He will be studying for the exam. They will be traveling to Paris.

4. Future Perfect Continuous Tense

• Used for actions that will have been in progress up until a specific time in the future.
• Formed using "will have been" + the base form + -ing.
• Examples: He will have been waiting for two hours by the time I reach. They will have been practicing all day.