Category Archives: Present Perfect Continuous

Revise the 12 Tenses of English - Diagram

Revise the 12 Tenses of English – Diagram

Learn or revise the twelve tenses of English with our FREE diagram and notes:

Revise the 12 Tenses of English – Diagram

Direct download: https://purlandtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Revise-the-12-English-Tenses-Diagram-Purland-Training.pdf


Find out more about each tense:

Present Simple  /  Present Continuous

Past Simple  /  Past Continuous

Present Perfect  /  Present Perfect Continuous

Future Simple  /  Future Continuous

Past Perfect  /  Past Perfect Continuous

Future Perfect  /  Future Perfect Continuous


There are six pairs of tenses in English: 

Present Simple:

Not connected to the timeline. An action in general time.

I eat dinner.

– –

Present Continuous:

An unfinished continuous action in the present moment.

I am eating dinner now.

– – 

Past Simple:

A finished action in finished time.

I ate dinner last night.

– – 

Past Continuous:

An unfinished continuous action in finished time.

I was eating dinner last night when the phone rang.

– – 

Present Perfect:

A finished action in unfinished time.

I have eaten dinner today.

– – 

Present Perfect Continuous:

An unfinished continuous action in unfinished time.

I have been eating dinner for ten minutes.

– – 

Future Simple:

A predicted action in the future.

I will eat dinner tomorrow.

– – 

Future Continuous:

An unfinished continuous action at a specific time in the future.

I will be eating dinner tomorrow at 6pm.

– – 

Past Perfect:

A finished action in the past before a later action / time.

I had eaten dinner before leaving.

– – 

Past Perfect Continuous:

An unfinished continuous action in the past before a later action / time.

I had been eating dinner when the phone rang.

– – 

Future Perfect:

A finished action in the future before a later action / time.

I will have eaten dinner by 6pm.

– – 

Future Perfect Continuous:

An unfinished continuous action in the future before a later action / time.

I will have been eating dinner for ten minutes by 6pm.

– –

Let’s add four conditionals: 

First Conditional:

An action that is conditional in the real future.

If I eat dinner at 6pm, I will be ready to go out at 7pm.

– –

Second Conditional:

An action that is conditional in the unreal – i.e. hypothetical – future.

If I ate dinner on a boat, I would feel ill.

– –

Third Conditional:

An action that is conditional in the unreal – i.e. hypothetical – past.

If I had eaten dinner, I wouldn’t have felt hungry.

– –

Zero Conditional:

An action that is conditional in general time.

If I don’t eat dinner, I feel hungry.

– –

It’s not a tense, but let’s include this useful verb form:

Imperative Form:

An order or instruction that demands action immediately.

Eat dinner! (now)


Further study:

Best FREE Resources for Learning English Tenses

Revise the 12 English Tenses – worksheets


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How to Use Present Perfect in English (Video Class)

How to Use Present Perfect (Video Class)

How to Use Present Perfect (Video Class)

Find out how to use present perfect in English, and why we use it with this fabulous video from Emma Jakobi at mmmEnglish. Check out her website here. It’s delicious!

If you would like to learn more, why not check out the Purland Training guide to present perfect and present perfect continuous!