Past contionus tense

Duration in the past

We use the Past Continuous to talk about actions or situations that lasted for some time in the past, and whose duration time is unknown or unimportant.

• I was watching TV yesterday in the evening.
• She was sleeping on the couch.
• The dog was barking.

Interrupted actions in progress

The Past Continuous is often used when one action in progress is interruped by another action in the past. The Past simple is used in such sentences. We usually use when or while to link these two sentences.

Sentence in Past Continuous	+	WHEN	+	Sentence in Past Simple
e.g. I was singing				e.g. my wife came home

1.  

WHEN/WHILE	+	Sentence in Past Continuous	+	Sentence in Past Simple
		e.g. I was singing		e.g. my wife came home

• I was talking with James when the telephone rang.
• While Angelica was playing tennis, the plane crashed.
• When Bob was painting windows, it started raining.

Actions in progress at the same time

We also use this tense to talk about two or more activities happening at the same. We usually use when or while to link the two sentences.

Sentence in Past Continuous	+	WHEN/WHILE	+	Sentence in Past Continuous
e.g. I was singing				e.g. She was cooking

1.  

WHEN/WHILE	+	Sentence in Past Continuous	+	Sentence in Past Continuous
		e.g. I was singing		e.g. She was cooking

• I was watching TV and Barbara was reading a book.
• The family was eating the dinner and talking.
• When Bob was painting windows, Mary was working in the kitchen.

Polite questions

If we want to ask a polite question, we can use the Past Continuous.

• I was wondering if you could open the window.
• I was thinking you might help me with this problem.

Even though the sentences have a Past Continuous form, they refer to the present moment. Their meaning is similar to the "could you" sentences, but they are more polite.

Irritation

Remember that you can also express irritation over somebody or something in the past.

• She was always coming late for dinner!

 The formula of past continous tense

(+) = S + was/ were + Ving + O Example they were speaking English (-) = S+ was/ were + ving +O Example : they were not speaking English (?) = was/ were + S + Ving + O Example : were they speaking English?

Present Perfect Continous 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?

·         You look tired. Have you been sleeping properly?

·         I've got a a stiff neck. I've been working too long on computer.

It can refer to an action that has not finished.

·         I've been learning Spanish for 20 years and I still don't know very much.

·         I've been waiting for him for 30 minutes and he still hasn't arrived.

·         He's been telling me about it for days. I wish he would stop.

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

·         I've been wanting to do that for ten years.

·         You haven't been getting good results over the last few months.

·         They haven't been working all week. They're on strike

·         He hasn't been talking to me for weeks.

The formula of present perfect continous tense

(+) = S + have/ has + been + Ving + O Example : I have been working for 3 years (-) = S + have/ has+ not + been + Ving + O Example : I have  not been working for 3 years (?) = have/ has + S+ been + Ving + O Example : have I been working for 3 years?

Simple Future Tense

Promises

The first use of the Future Simple to make promises.

• I promise I will buy you this toy.
• Promise you will never leave me!

Unplanned actions

Use this tense also to talk about unplanned (spontaneous) decisions.

• Don't worry! I will help you with this problem.
• I will close the window. It's starting to rain.

Predictions

We often use the Future Simple when making a prediction based on experience or intuition.

• It will rain in a moment.
• It will get more difficult.

Habits

The last use of this tense is interesting: we can also use the Future Simple to express habits.

• She will bit her lip if she is thinking or if she's nervous about something.
• He will always make noise when we are sleeping.

Simple future tense often uses adverb of time, e.g :

Tonight	This weekend
Next week	The day after tomorrow
soon	If (conditional), etc

The formula of simple future tense :

Verbal sentence (+) = S + will/ shall + V1 + O S + to be (is, am, are) going to + V1 + O Example : I will watch movie tomorrow (-) = S + will/ shall +  not + O Example :  I will not watch movie tomorrow (?) = will/ shall + S + V1 + O Example : wll I watch movie tomorrow? Nominal sentence (+ ) = S + will/ shall +be +complement Example : she will be a teacher next year (-) = S + will/ shall +  not + be + complement Example= she will not  be a teacher next year (?) = will/ shall + S + be+ complement Example : will she be a teacher next year?