Future Progressive ~Verb Form

This post will show you how to form the Future Progressive, also called the Future Continuous. To see how to use the Future Progressive, click here.

Subject	Will Be	Verb + ing
I	will be	working	all day tomorrow.
You	will be	living	in Dublin next month!
He/she/it	will be	studying	hard all week.
We	will be	doing	a lot of research tomorrow.
They/you (plural)	will be	traveling	to all seven continents over the next two years.

Negative

Subject	Won’t	Be	Verb + ing
I	won’t	be	traveling	to France next year.
You	won’t	be	laughing	if that happens!
He/she/it	won’t	be	doing	anything all day tomorrow.
We	won’t	be	presenting	to the board next month.
They/you (plural)	won’t	be	advertising	in India next quarter.

Yes/No Questions

Will	Subject	Be Verb + ing
Will	I	be walking	all day on the hike?
Will	you	be traveling	in Argentina next month?
Will	he/she/it	be snowing	all week?
Will	we	be spending	too much money if we buy that TV?
Will	they/you (plural)	be playing	that movie that we want to see?

Short Answers

Yes,	Subject + Will + (Be)
Yes,	I will (be).
Yes,	you will (be).
Yes,	he/she/it will (be).
Yes,	we will (be).
Yes,	they/you (plural) will (be).

Short Answers

No	Subject + Won’t (+be)
No,	I won’t (be)
No,	you won’t (be)
No,	he/she/it won’t (be)
No,	we won’t (be)
No,	they/you (plural) won’t (be)

Information Questions

Wh- Word	Have/Has	Subject	Past Participle
Who	has	she	talked	to about the problem?
What	have	we	done	to the Earth?
When	has	she	learned	from her mistake?
Where	have	you	been	all my life?
How	have	I	grown	professionally?
How long	have	they	been	together?
Why	has	it	taken	so long?

Wh- Word (subject)	Will Be	Subject	Verb + ing
Who	will be		hosting	the party?
What	will be		happening	when we arrive?

Past Perfect Progressive – Verb Form

This post will show you how to form the Past Perfect Progressive. To see how to use the Past Perfect Progressive, click here.

Affirmative Statements

Subject + Had		Been	Verb + ing
I’d		been	working	all day.
You’d		been	waiting	for a long time.
She’d/He’d/It’d		been	snowing	all night.
We’d		been	eating	dinner.
They’d/You’d (plural)		been	investing	a lot of money.

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Negative Statements

Subject	Had Not (hadn’t)	Been	Verb + ing
I	hadn’t	been	going	to school for some time.
You	hadn’t	been	writing	your essay.
She/He/It	hadn’t	been	dating	her for very long.
We	hadn’t	been	traveling	for a while.
They/You (plural)	hadn’t	been	sleeping	well.

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Yes/No Questions

Had	Subject	Been	Verb + ing
Had	you	been	living	in Dubai
Had	it	been	raining	all morning?
Had	they	been	driving	all night?

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Short Answers

Yes	Subject	Had	No	Subject	Had + Not (hadn’t)
Yes,	I	had.	No,	I	hadn’t.
Yes,	he	had.	No,	he	hadn’t.
Yes,	they	had.	No,	they	hadn’t.

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Information Questions

Wh- Word	Had	Subject	Been	Verb + ing
Who	had	you	been	talking	to?
What	had	she	been	doing	all morning?
When	had	he	been	working?
Where	had	it	been	snowing?
How	had	they	been	traveling?
Why	had	they	been	going	to Hong Kong?
Who (subject)	had		been	eating	my food?
What (subject)	had		been	happening	before I arrived?

Past Perfect – Meaning and Use

This post will show you how to use the Past Perfect. To see how to form the Past Perfect, click here.

The Past Perfect expresses the relationship in time between two past events. It shows that one action or state happened before another action or state in the past. The Past Perfect expresses the first event and the Past Simple often expresses the second, or later, event.

• I had just completed the exam. (Past perfect, 1^st event)
• I felt so relieved. (Past Simple, 2^nd event)

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The past time can be recent or distant.

• Michael called me this morning, but I wasn’t there; I had already left.  (Recent time)
• Michael wrote me last year, but I never got the letter; I had moved away.

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The Past Perfect is often used in sentences containing past time clauses. The Past Perfect is used to indicate the first event, and the Past Simple is used for the second event. Before, by the time, when, until, and after introduce the time clause.

Past Perfect (1^st Event)                                    Past Simple (2^nd Event)

The thief had escaped                                    before I called the police.

We had calmed down                                    by the time the police came.

He had been upstairs                                    when we came home.

We hadn’t noticed                                                until we heard the footsteps.

After I had called the police,                         we realized the thief was gone.

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In sentences with before, after, by the time, and until, the Past Perfect is sometimes replaced by the Past Simple with no difference in meaning.

• I had gone inside before I took off my coat. = I went inside before I took off my coat.
• After I had gone inside, I took off my coat. = After I went inside, I took off my coat.

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The Past Perfect is often used with the same adverbs and prepositions as the Present Perfect: already, yet, still, ever, never, for, since, and just.

•  By  lunch time, we had  already discussed the new budget and written a new report.
• I had lived in Texas for 12 years before I moved to California.
• Had she ever eaten a hot dog before she came to the United States? No, she’d never had one!!

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By + a time can be used with the Past Perfect to express the later time in the sentence.

• We had finished by then.
• By noon, we had hiked two miles.

Past Progressive – Verb Meaning and Use

This post will show you how to use the Past Progressive (also called the Past Continuous). To see how to form the Past Progressive, click here.

We use the Past Progressive to talk about activities that were in progress (happening) at a specific time in the past. This may be an exact moment in the past or a longer period of time.

• It wasn’t raining at lunch time, it was snowing.
• You were acting weird last night.
• I was studying in Brasilia in 2010.

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The Past Progressive expresses an ongoing past activity that may or may not be completed.

• At 7:00 Rodrigo was making dinner in the kitchen. (He was in the middle of making dinner and we don’t know if he finished.)
• The children were building a snowman while it was snowing. (They were in the middle of building a snowman and we don’t know if they finished.)
  

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Simultaneous Events

Sentences with two past time clauses describe the order in which two past events happened. When the verbs in both the time clause and the main clause are in the Past Progressive, the events were simultaneous (happening at the same time).

• When you were studying, I was working.
• They were playing hockey while we were shopping.

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Interrupted Events

When one verb is in the Past Simple and the other in the Past Progressive, it shows that one event interrupted the other. The event in the Past Progressive started first and was interrupted by the Past Simple event. When or while begins the time clause, which uses the Past Progressive.

• While we were eating dinner, the phone rang.
• She ran into Adam when she was walking to school.

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Background Information

The Past Progressive often appears at the beginning of a narrative to describe background activities. It can express several background activities happening at the same time as the main event. The main even is in the Past Simple.

• It was raining hard outside and my roommate was taking a shower. At exactly 7:10, there was a huge clap of thunder. I jumped up as the house shook violently.
• When we arrived at the stadium, the home team was winning,  all the fans were cheering, and my heart was racing with excitement.

 

 

 

Past Progressive – Verb Form

This post will show you how to form the Past Progressive (also called the Past Continuous). To see how to use the Past Progressive, click here.

Affirmative Statements

Subject	Was/Were	Base Verb + ing
I	was	working	that night.
You	were	living	in Sao Paulo
He/She/It	was	watching	TV.
We	were	walking	to the store.
They/You (plural)	were	playing	tenis.

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Negative Statements

Subject	Was/Were + Not (wasn’t/weren’t)	Base Verb = ing
I	wasn’t	eating	dinner.
You	weren’t	waiting	for us.
She/He/It	wasn’t	driving	very fast.
We	weren’t	thinking	about the consequences.
They/You (plural)	weren’t	sleeping	at 8:00 am.

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Yes/No Questions

Was/Were	Subject	Base Verb + ing
Were	you	living	in Sidney?
Was	he	cooking	dinner?
Were	they	writing	their essay?

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Short Answers

Yes	Subject	Was	No	Subject	Was/were + Not (wasn’t/weren’t)
Yes,	I	was.	No,	I	wasn’t.
Yes,	he	was.	No,	he	wasn’t.
Yes,	they	were.	No,	they	weren’t.

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Information Questions

Wh- Word	Was/Were	Subject	Base Verb + ing
Who	were	you	talking	to?
What	was	she	watching?
When	was	he	working	there?
Where	was	it	snowing?
How	were	they	saving	money?
Why	were	they	changing	jobs?
Who (subject)	was		leaving?
What (subject)	was		happening?