Present simple |
used for facts, generalizations, and truths that are not affected by the passage of time |
“She writes a lot of papers for her classes.” |
Past simple |
used for events completed in the past |
“She wrote the papers for all of her classes last month.” |
Future simple |
used for events to be completed in the future |
“She will write papers for her classes next semester.” |
Present perfect |
used to describe events that began in the past and are expected to continue, or to emphasize the relevance of past events to the present moment |
“She has written papers for most of her classes, but she still has some papers left to write.” |
Past perfect |
used to describe events that happened prior to other events in the past |
“She had written several papers for her classes before she switched universities.” |
Future perfect |
used to describe events that will be completed between now and a specific point in the future |
“She will have written many papers for her classes by the end of the semester.” |
Present continuous |
used to describe currently ongoing (usually temporary) actions |
“She is writing a paper for her class.” |
Past continuous |
used to describe ongoing past events, often in relation to the occurrence of another event |
“She was writing a paper for her class when her pencil broke.” |
Future continuous |
used to describe future events that are expected to continue over a period of time |
“She will be writing a lot of papers for her classes next year.” |
Present perfect continuous |
used to describe events that started in the past and continue into the present or were recently completed, emphasizing their relevance to the present moment |
“She has been writing a paper all night, and now she needs to get some sleep.” |
Past perfect continuous |
used to describe events that began, continued, and ended in the past, emphasizing their relevance to a past moment |
“She had been writing a paper all night, and she needed to get some sleep.” |
Future perfect continuous |
used to describe events that will continue up until a point in the future, emphasizing their expected duration |
“She will have been writing this paper for three months when she hands it in.” |