Tenses

1. Present Simple

Tom walks to school every day.

Tom has strong legs.

Tom is a good student.

Tom dosen't walk to school every day.

Tom hasn't strong legs. or Tom doesn't have strong legs.

Tom is not a good student.

Does Tom walk to school every day?

Does Tom have strong legs?

Is Tom a good student?

2. Past Simple

Tom walked to school every day.

Tom had strong legs.

Tom was a good student.

Tom didn't walk to school every day.

Tom hadn't strong legs. or Tom didn't have strong legs.

Tom wasn't a good student.

Did Tom walk to school every day?

Had Tom strong legs? or Did Tom have strong legs?

Was Tom a good student?

3. Future Simple

Tom will go to school tomorrow.

Tom will have a new car next month.

Tom will be a rich student.

Tom will not go to school tomorrow.

Tom will not have a new car next month.

Tom will not be a rich student.

Will Tom go to school tomorrow?

Will Tom have a new car next month?

Will Tom be a rich student?

4. Present Continue

Tom is going to school.

Tom is having a new car next month.

Tom is being a good student.

Tom is not going to school.

Tom is not having a new car next month.

Tom is not being a good student.

Is Tom going to school?

Is Tom having a new car next month?

Is Tom being a good student?

5. Past Continue

Tom was walking to school.

Tom was having a new car.

Tom was being a rich car.

Tom was not walking to school.

Tom was not having a new car.

Tom was not being a rich car.

Was Tom walking to school?

Was Tom having a new car?

Was Tom being a rich car?

6. Future Continue

Tom will be walking to school.

Tom will be having a new car.

Tom will be being a rich student.

Tom will not be walking to school.

Tom will not be having a new car.

Tom will not be being a rich student.

Will Tom be walking to school?

Will Tom be having a new car?

Will Tom be being a rich student?

7. Past Perfect

Tom had walked to school.

Tom had had strong legs.

Tom had been a good student.

Tom had not walked to school.

Tom had not had strong legs.

Tom had not been a good student.

Had Tom walked to school?

Had Tom had strong legs?

Had Tom been a good student?

8. Present Perfect

Tom has walked to school.

Tom has had strong legs.

Tom has been a good student.

Tom has not walked to school.

Tom has not had strong legs.

Tom has not been a good student.

Has Tom walked to school?

Has Tom had strong legs?

Has Tom been a good student?

9. Future Perfect

Tom will have walked to school.

Tom will have had a new car next month.

Tom will have been a rich student.

Tom will have not walked to school.

Tom will have not had a new car next month.

Tom will have not been a rich student.

Will Tom have walked to school?

Will Tom have had a new car next month?

Will Tom have been a rich student?

10. Past Perfect Continue

Tom had been walking to school.

Tom had been having a new car.

Tom had been being a rich student.

Tom had not been walking to school.

Tom had not been having a new car.

Tom had not been being a rich student.

Had Tom been walking to school?

Had Tom been having a new car?

Had Tom been being a rich student?

11. Present Perfect Continue

Tom has been walking to school.

Tom has been having a new car.

Tom has been being a rich student.

Tom has not been walking to school.

Tom has not been having a new car.

Tom has not been being a rich student.

Has Tom been walking to school?

Has Tom been having a new car?

Has Tom been being a rich student?

12. Future Perfect Continue

Tom will have been walking to school.

Tom will have been having a new car.

Tom will have been being a rich student.

Tom will have not been walking to school.

Tom will have not been having a new car.

Tom will have not been being a rich student.

Will Tom have been walking to school?

Will Tom have been having a new car?

Will Tom have been being a rich student?

Dear teachers, please check them grammatically

I am very dubious about their meanings which have almost same meaings for some tenses.

for examples, what are differences?

[Present Continue] vs [Future Perfect Continue] vs [Future Continue]

Tom is being a rich student. vs Tom will have been being a rich student. vs Tom will be being a rich student.

[Present Simple] vs [Present Perfect] vs [Future Perfect]

Tom has a new car. vs Tom has had a new car. vs Tom will have had a new car.

and more...

if you are an English teacher how to show all of explanations and all the differences related with all these tenses.

Thanks a lot

«Tom is being a rich student. vs Tom will have been being a rich student. vs Tom will be being a rich student.»

As you should have read, the Present Continuous tense is used to express an on-going (active) process, that is happening at the moment of speech (the present).

But being a student is not a process at all. Intutively people perceive it as a state. Tom is a student. The car is white. Neither Tom nor the car are not doing anything to be a student and white accordingly. They just are so. Tom can sleep, eat, play The Dig! and still be a student. The car may stand in the garage or cruise across America, but it still will be white. There's no need in a certain _process_ for the car to remain white.

Of course, Tom should study well and the car should be taken care of, but those are processes are only supporting the corresponding states. If Tom stops to do homework he'll be expelled from his university, but it won't happen right at the moment he've decided to stop doing university tasks.

Same goes to the car: if its owner stops washing it and protecting against corrosion it'll take a considerable time for the car to get rusted all over and through, so it can no longer be called a white car.

That's why progressive tenses usually don't work with the so-called stative verbs.

But you can say:

1. Tom is a student — Now he is a student
2. Tom will be student (sometime in the future)
3. Tom was a student (when he was young)

About verbs expressing processes:

Let's take a very simple process — that of playing a game.

A process is not a state, some activity is required for the process to keep going on.

So, you can say: "I am playing a game now."
If tomorrow, say at 18:00 this process will be active, you can say: "Tomorrow at six I will be playing footbal with friends, so I will not be able (to be able — a state) to receive the parcel"

And if you say: "I play footbal" — you again express a state not a process. What state can that be? Only one — your state of being a regular footbal player. If you play footbal every Friday and Sunday, you can say on some Thursday evening: "I play footbal. And tommorow I'll be playing the final game for the cup of..."

But how to express that you became a student 3 years ago and are still a student?

"I have been a student for three years" — this Perfect tense syas that the action of your being a student began in the past (3 years ago) and is still not finished. It's called perfect because it considers a time interval up to now.

One year before you would say: "In a year I'll have been a student for three years." (Future Perfect)

And For years later you would say: "One year ago I had been a student for three years" (Past Perfect).

In the above sentences Past Pefrect expresses an unfinished (by some past moment) action, Future Perfect — an action that will be unfinished (but will have begun) at some moment in the future.


Now you can see that there's certain logic behind the names of tenses. The first word describes the time (Future, Present, Past), and the second reports the type of the action (Perfect — up to some moment, simple — a state, progressive — on-going process)

In addition to expressing states, Simple tenses are used to describe actions which are fully located in the past (Past Simple) or in the future (Future Simple):

"I will read you letter tomorrow"
"Yesterday I killed a fly"

There are also other usages of Past and Present Perfect, which you'll easily find well described in many books on grammar. I
explained only a few of them to see whether it helps at all.

P.S.: And beware, Tom: I am not an English teacher!

Marius: «The OP is plainly speaking too long a posting»

This is probably to impress us as to how long it takes to simply enumerate English tesnes. And how difficult it should be to learn and understand them!

Could you, instead with or in addtion to words, draw or show us where we can get a timeline, from which we can readily tell the differences between tenses (simple, coutinuous, etc...)?

Thanks in advance
Hoa Thai

Ant_222 wrote:

Hoa Thai: «Could you, instead with or in addtion to words, draw or show us where we can get a timeline, from which we can readily tell the differences between tenses (simple, continuous, etc...)?» I am eating now. (Progressive)           +----Action of eating-----+      ----------|-------------|-----------|-------------->          9:25          NOW         9:53         time I have been eating for 5 minutes now (Perfect)           +----Action of eating-------+    ----------|------|--------------------|-------------->          9:25   NOW=9:30               9:53         time I go to school every day:        going to school------------+----------+         |            |            |          |          |            | NOW        |          |    ----|--ooo--------|-ooo-|-----|--ooo------|-ooo--->     |  day 1      |  day 2    |    day 3  |    time     | (yesterday) |  (today)  | (tomorrow)|

Dear Ant_222,

That is wonderful! Thank you.
Now could you please do the same for past perfect, present perfect, future perfect, and their associated progressive cousins?