Writing | Verb Tenses

Tenses are the three different things that tell about an action. There are twelve types of tenses.

The three things that tell about an action are: time, continuance and completion. 

Time includes past, present and future. Past is something that has already happened. Present is something that is happening at the time of speaking and future is something that has not happened yet.


The two types of continuance are simple and continuous. Simple is a specific thing and continuous is still going on.

Perfect is a completed action. It is not the same as past, although, an action can be done in the past but it may not be completed.

The types of tenses are: past simple, present simple, future simple, past continuous, present continuous, future continuous, past perfect, present perfect, future perfect, past perfect continuous, present perfect continuous and future perfect continuous.

Understanding the different tenses help us identify when an action has been done.

LI: to learn about verb tense.