VERB TENSES IN CONTEXT EXERCISE 1 (ESL)

Grammar review Choosing the right verb tense — quick reference

This exercise tests your ability to choose the correct tense based on the time context and meaning of each sentence. The table below summarises the tenses that appear in this exercise and the key signal words for each.

Tense	Key use	Signal words
Simple past	Completed action at a specific past time	yesterday, last night, ago, in 2010
Past continuous	Action in progress at a past moment	when, while, at that moment
Past perfect	Action completed before another past action	by the time, already, after, before
Present perfect	Past action with present relevance; unfinished time	ever, never, already, yet, just, since, for
Present perfect continuous	Ongoing action started in the past — emphasises duration	for, since, how long, all day
Passive (past)	Action done to the subject at a past moment	was/were + past participle; by

The most important distinction in this exercise: simple past vs present perfect. Use simple past when the time period is finished or specified. Use present perfect when the time period is unfinished or the result still matters now.