General tense Review. English ESL Worksheets. English grammar with exercises. Free eBook and Free printable PDF

General tense Review



General tense Review

A review of the most used English tenses:

  • present simple
  • present continuous
  • present perfect
  • past simple
  • past perfect
  • past continuous
  • past perfect continuous
  • future tenses
  • passive voice

Present Tenses


The Past Tenses


The Future Tenses

General tense Review

Exercises

EXERCISE 1.

Fill in the correct form of the verb indicated in each blank. You may need to use the passive, the present simple, the present perfect, the past simple, the past perfect, or the past continuous.

THANKSGIVING

The holiday called Thanksgiving __________ (love) by all Americans and ___________ (celebrate) in November. The very first Thanksgiving ________ ________ (take place) hundreds of years ago, when European colonists ______ just ________ (to arrive) in the “New World.” How do you think the Europeans lived through their first winter in the Northeast? They _____ never ________ (live) in such a cold place. Some Native Americans saw their difficulties and decided to help. Lessons in growing corn and other foods ___________ (give) by the Native Americans. The Europeans ______ (be) happy to see that the corn and other foods ________________ (grow) well. So, a large feast ________________ (prepare) by the Europeans to thank the Native Americans.

Since that first feast, American people _____________ (observe) Thanksgiving Day with great enthusiasm. Unfortunately, I _________________ (not/celebrate) since I moved to Italy in 1995. The last time I spent Thanksgiving with my family was in 1994. I remember that Mom _____________ (make) apple pies and pecan pies while my brother ___________ (cut) the turkey.  I _____________ (prepare) the vegetables when the doorbell rang. My aunt and uncle _____________ (come) all the way from New York to be with us. The whole day, everybody _____________ (eat) and ____________ (chat) at the dinner table. In the end, a wonderful day ___________ by all. You know, Italian food is great, but… nobody _____ ever _________ (make) an apple pie as good as the ones my mother makes!


SIMPLE OR CONTINUOUS

EXERCISE 1.

Read the following sentences and decide if the sentences are right or wrong. If they are wrong, make the necessary correction.

e.g. John is believing that wars are not necessary  (WRONG)

John believes that wars are not necessary    (RIGHT)

1. Are you knowing the meaning of this word?

I’m seeing Mr Smith at 12.00 am.

3. Who is this watch belonging to?

  John isn’t understanding anything I say. I always have to repeat everything.

  What are you doing? I’m smelling these beautiful flowers.

  I remember when we were young and we used to play outside until it was late.

  They’ve been owing me money for over 6 months now.

  This cake is tasting so good, isn’t it?

  Have you been waiting for long?

  I’ve just been realising that John isn’t here today, he’s being on holiday.

  How are you feeling today?  I’m feeling well, thanks.

   Greg, why don’t you taste some of these muffins? No thanks, I’ve been tasting  them all morning.


PAST TENSES

EXERCISE 1.

Put a verb in the correct past tense. (simple past, past continuous, simple past perfect or past perfect continuous).

During my years as a medical student I ______________ very poor so I _________my summer holidays doing part-time jobs.  The first year I _______________ in a garage, the second year I _____________ a bus driver but the third year no one ________________    me.  In the end I ________________ two boring jobs at the same time.  I ________________ as a butcher during the day and as a hospital assistant in the evenings.  At least this ________________ I __________________ the same white coat!  One evening I _________________ very tired because I _____________ a very long and difficult day.  I ____________________ overtime in the butcher shop and___________________ straight to the hospital.  That evening I ______________in the surgery ward and ________________ patients to the operating theatre.  Even the surgeons __________________ in the evening that day!As I ___________________ a lady into the operating theatre, she suddenly ______________ with a horrified expression on her face.  “My God”, she ______________ , “It _______________ my butcher”.

EXERCISE 2.

Correct the sentences, if necessary.

e.g. He arrived while I left.   while I was leaving  

  1. We discovered the mistake they had made.  __________________________
  2. He went downstairs and had disappeared into the cellar. _________________
  3. When they were finding her, she was sitting in the park. _________________
  4. While I had tried to phone him, he arrived. __________________________
  5. I was walking in the woods when I saw a bear. _________________________
  6. They had been waiting for 6 hours when the doctor finally arrived. _________
  7. He was last seen crossing the road. ________________________________
  8.  We got up, had breakfast and had left for work. ______________________
  9. After she went home, she had made dinner. __________________________

Future Tenses

EXERCISE 1.

Underline the correct option in the following predictions.

Example:

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll/I’ll have to begin.

  1. I think England will/are going to win the world cup.
  2. You will/will have to marry a tall dark handsome stranger.
  3. I will/will have collected a hundred shells by the end of my holiday.
  4. Mankind will/will have to live on the moon by the year 2010.
  5. Tomorrow I’ll/I’ll be in Spain on the beach, having a cocktail.
  6. In the year 3000 everybody will have/will eleven fingers.
  7. Alien life will be/will discovered on Mars.
  8. Rats will/will have to take over the Earth.

EXERCISE 2.

Now create your own predictions of what will happen in the following time spans.

Tomorrow

Next week

Next year

2050

2500

3000

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