Students should refer to the following Tense Rules of English Grammar. These rules have been designed by expert English teachers to help students appearing in English Exams in schools or competitive examinations. You should remember the following Tense Rules so that you can use them correctly and score good marks in examinations. You should refer to all Rules of English Grammar provided by us to strengthen your understanding.

Tense Rules English Grammar

PRESENT TENSE

Simple Present (Basic Structure: V1)
Rule 1- Universal Truths: The sun rises in the east (‘Rise/s’ is V1)

Rule 2- General Truths & Common Understandings: Minerals are essential to keep our body healthy (‘Are’ is V1)

Rule 3- Feelings & Emotions: I like you (‘Like/s’ is V1)

Rule 4- Repetitive & Habitual Actions: Rohit goes to school daily. (‘Go/es’ is V1)

Rule 5- Future actions governed by a schedule or timetable:
The College reopens after Diwali vacations. (‘Reopen/s’ is V1)

Present Continuous (Basic Structure: Is / Am / Are + V1 + ing)
Rule 6- Actions which are in progress in present time: The Indian economy is growing at a rapid pace

Rule 7- Actions which are in progress in the vicinity of present time:
Nowadays, a lot of students are preparing for Govt. jobs. (The action may not be in progress at the time of speaking, yet it is in continuation somewhere in the vicinity of present time)

Rule 8- Personal plans of near future: I am meeting my friends in the 

Rule 9- A recurrent action, when it becomes problematic and irritating:
She is always Kicking me without any reason.

Present Perfect (Basic Structure: Has / Have + V3)
Rule 10- Past completed actions, when the time of the action is not relevant:
Sharmaji has completed his project.

Rule 11- Recently completed actions (quite often with ‘just’): The policemen have just arrested

Present Perfect Continuous (Basic Structure: Has / Have + Been + V1 + ing)
Rule 12- An action that started in the past and continues in the present (quite often with ‘since’ & ‘for’ phrases):
(i) I have been waiting here for over an hour (‘for’ shows the duration of the action)
(ii) It has been raining heavily since morning (‘since’ shows the start point of the action)

PAST TENSE

Simple Past (Basic Structure: V2)
Rule 13- Past completed actions, along with an adverb of past time showing the time of the action
Ex- Sita left for her trip yesterday. (‘yesterday’ is an adverb of past time)

Rule 14– Past completed actions, when the time of the action has not been specified
Ex- Sardar Patel was our country’s first home minister.

Rule 15- Recurrent actions in the past
Ex- As a kid, I ate apples regularly.

Past Continuous (Basic Structure: Was / Were + V1 + ing)
Rule 16- An action which was in progress, when another action took place
Ex- I was relishing a parantha , when someone knocked at the door.

Rule 17- An action which was in progress in the past
Ex-All evening, the kids were playing in the garden

Past Perfect (Basic Structure: Had + V3)
Rule 18- An action which got completed by/before another past completed action:
Ex- The thieves had robbed the bank by the time the police arrived.

Rule 19- An action which got completed by/before a certain point of time in the past
Ex- India had become a nuclear power much before the start of this century

Past Perfect Continuous (Basic Structure: Had + Been + V1 + ing)
Rule 20- An action which started before a certain point of time in the past and continued up to it
Ex- Ramesh had been studying continuously until he finally dozed off.

Rule 21-The cause of something in the past
Ex- Sahil was exhausted because he had been swimming in the pool.

FUTURE TENSE

Simple Future (Basic Structure: Will / Shall + V1)
Rule 22- Future actions over which we have no control
Ex- Our horse will turn old in a couple of years.

Rule 23- Promises
Ex- I will buy you a watch on your next birthday.

Rule 24- Predictions: India will win the next ICC world cup.

Rule 25- Instantaneous Decisions (on-the-spot decisions)
Ex- Ok! I will help you sort out this problem

Future Continuous (Basic Structure: Will / Shall + Be + V1 + ing)
Rule 26- An action which will be in progress, in future, in the normal course of things
Ex- As per the plan, we will be staying here till Sunday.

Rule 27- A future action in progress
Ex- In the evening, he will be playing the piano.

Future Perfect (Basic Structure: Will / Shall + Have + V3)
Rule 28- An action which will get completed by/before a certain point of time in the future
Ex- They will have painted the fence before the end of this week.

Rule 29- Duration in the future
Ex- By the next month, he will have worked with me for over 5 years.

Future Perfect Continuous (Basic Structure: Will / Shall + Have + Been + V1 + ing)
Rule 30- An action which will be in progress over a period of time in future before finally coming to an end
Ex- The professor will have been teaching for over 25 years by the time we graduate.

Rule 31- Cause of a future situation
Ex- By next week, she will have been travelling for 3 months and will need to take rest.