Mastering English Tenses & Sentence Structures

Simple & Continuous Tenses

• Simple Tenses: Used with verbs that describe an unchanging state rather than an action.
• Continuous Tenses: Used to emphasize that a situation is temporary or untypical. Example: I'm appreciating being able...

Perfect Tenses

Used to talk about a situation that existed in the past and still exists now.

Present Perfect

To talk about a repeated action that might happen again. Example: I've arrived late for work twice.

Present Perfect Continuous

To talk about an action in progress in the past for a period until now, and which is either still in progress or recently finished. Example: I've been working...

Future Tenses

Future Simple (Will vs. Be Going To)

Sometimes we use 'will' instead of 'be going to' to make a prediction based on outside evidence, but when we do, we usually include an adverb. Example: It's definitely going to rain.

Future Continuous

To talk about something predicted to happen at a particular time or over a particular period. Example: I'll be studying...

Future Perfect

To make a prediction about an action we expect to be completed by a particular time. Example: By the time you come, I'll have got to know the city.

Future Perfect Continuous

To emphasize the duration of an activity in progress at a particular point in the future. Example: When I come to see you, you will have been living in California.

Future in the Past

From the speaker's point of view, it's used when you want to discuss something in the past that you thought would happen in the future. Example: I was going to...

Cleft Sentences Explained

• It-cleft: It is Jaime for whom we are looking.
• Wh-cleft/Pseudo-cleft: What he wanted to buy was a Fiat.
• Reversed Wh-cleft/Inverted Pseudo-cleft: A Fiat is what he wanted to buy.
• All-cleft: All he wanted to buy was a Fiat.
• Inferential Cleft: It is not that he loves her. It's just that he has a way with her that is different.
• There-cleft: And then there's a new house he wanted to build.
• If-because Cleft: If he wants to be an actor it's because he wants to be famous.