Past Perfect Continuous Tense

The Past Perfect Continuous tense is used to express something that started in the past and continued until another time in the past.

POSITIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	HAD BEEN	VERB + ing	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.
You	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.
He	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.
Mohan	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.
The boy	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.

Past Perfect Tense

The Past Perfect tense is used to express something that happened before another action in the past.

POSITIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	HAD	VERB (past participle)	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	had	finished	the work.
You	had	finished	the work.
He	had	finished	the work.

Past Continuous Tense

In the Past Continuous tense, the action was ongoing till a certain time in the past.This tense is used to talk about an action at a particular time in the past.

POSITIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	WAS / WERE	VERB + ing	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
You	were	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.
He	was	sleeping	at 11 p.m. last night.

Past Tense - Simple Past Tense

In the Simple Past tense, the action is simply mentioned and understood to have taken place in the past. The action started and ended sometime in the past but the time may or may not be mentioned.

POSITIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	VERB (in past form)	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	played	cricket yesterday.
You	played	cricket yesterday.
He	played	cricket yesterday.

Tenses Part III - Present Perfect Tense

In the Present Perfect tense, the action is complete or has ended and hence termed Perfect. The exact time when the action happened is not important and hence, it is not mentioned in this tense.

POSITIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	HAVE / HAS	VERB (past participle)	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	have	seen	this movie.
You	have	seen	this movie.
He	has	seen	this movie.
Mohan	has	seen	this movie.
The boy	has	seen	this movie.

Tenses Part II - Present Continuous Tense Tweet

In the Present Continuous tense, the action is on-going/ still going on and hence continuous. The present continuous tense is used to talk about actions that are happening at this current moment.

POSITIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	AM / ARE / IS	VERB + ing	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	am	watching	television.
You	are	watching	television.
He	is	watching	television.
Mohan	is	watching	television
The boy	is	watching	television.
She	is	watching	television.
Pooja	is	watching	television.

Tenses Part I - Simple Present Tense

The concept of time can be split into:

1. The Present - What you are currently doing.   

I eat, I am eating                                  

2. The Past - What you did some time back.  

I ate, I was eating

3. The Future - What you will do later.  

I will eat, I will be eating                                             

In the English language, tenses play an important role in sentence formation. 

The tense of a verb shows the time of an event or action.

 There are four types of tenses. Simple, Perfect, Continuous and Present Perfect Continuous and each of these has a present, past and future form. 

SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

Present Perfect Continuous Tense

In the Present Perfect Continuous tense, the action has been taking place for some time and is still ongoing. The duration for which the action has been going on is usually mentioned in the present perfect continuous tense.

POSITIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	HAVE BEEN/ HAS BEEN	VERB + ing	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	have been	waiting	for an hour.
You	have been	waiting	for an hour.
He	has been	waiting	for an hour.
Mohan	has been	waiting	for an hour.