Tenses and actions (English exercise n°4052 - Please quote this number when contacting us)


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Tenses and actions

Tense/Temps	Example/Exemple	Explanation/Explication
Present simple	I play football every week.	Here you want to say that it happens regularly. Action qui arrive régulièrement.
Present continuous	I'm playing football now.	Here you want to say that it is happening at the moment. Action qui arrive en ce moment.
Past simple	I played football yesterday.	You did it yesterday, it happened in the past., the action is finished. Action passée et datée (hier/yesterday).
Past continuous	I was playing football the whole evening.	You were doing it in the past. It's not sure whether the action was finished or not. Action qui avait lieu hier, on insiste sur la durée.
Present Perfect	I have just played football.	You have just finished it. So it has a connection to the present. Maybe your clothes are dirty. Action qui vient de se produire,avec conséquence sur le présent.
Present Perfect Continuous	I have been playing football for 2 hours.	You want to say how long you have been doing it. (You started in the past and it continues up to the present. Action qui a commencé dans le passé et continue dans le présent.
Past Perfect	I had played football when Susan came.	The two actions are related to each other: you had finished to play football and after that the girl arrived. Les 2 actions sont liées,l'une finissant quand l'autre commence.
Past Perfect Continuous	I had been playing football when Susan came.	Here you want to point out how long you had been doing it before the girl came. Même chose ici en insistant sur la durée de la 1ère action.
will future	I will play football next week.	This is a prediction, you can probably do something else. C'est une prédiction, il se peut que vous fassiez autre chose.
going to future	I'm going to play football this afternoon.	This is a plan you've made. C'est un projet.
Future Continuous	I will be playing football next Sunday.	You do it every Sunday (as usual) Action future et habituelle du dimanche.
Future Perfect	I will have played football by tomorrow.	You will have done it before tomorrow. Action accomplie d'ici demain.
Conditional Simple	I would play football.	You'll probably do it. Action probable.
Conditional Continuous	I would be playing football.	You'll probably do it. Here you concentrate more on the progress of the action. Action probable,en insistant sur sa durée.
Conditional Perfect	I would have played football.	You'll probably have finished playing football at a special time in the future. Here you concentrate on the fact (football). Action future avec notion de probabilité.
Conditional Perfect Continuous	I would have been playing football.	You'll probably have finished playing football at a special time in the future. Here you concentrate on the progress of playing (football). Action future avec notion de probabilité en insistant sur la durée.

Exercise : find the right tense

Exercice : trouver le temps correct

Beginners
English exercise "Tenses and actions" created by lucile83 (05-10-2005) with The test builder
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1. He (write) his aunt a letter every week.
2. She (go) to school yesterday.
3. Jane (eat) a cake right now.
4. Tom (watch) TV when Jane arrived.
5. Someone (take) all the sweets !
6. Mike (run) for 2 hours,he must be tired.
7. He (write) a letter to Dave but he never posted it.
8. Next Sunday I (go) to Battersea Park.
9. Last week Meg (work) a lot.
10. She must go to bed, she (watch) TV for 2 hours !
11. Kevin (buy) a new car if he had enough money.
12. Sue (phone) him if she had had his phone number.

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