Tenses Quiz

This tenses quiz tests your knowledge of a mix of tenses related to the past, present, and future. Read the sentence then decide which word or phrase fits correctly in the gap.

Tenses Quiz

Choose the correct tense to go in the gap.

1. When you phoned, I ……………….. a shower.


We use the past continuous to talk about a past event that was going on for a period of time in the past.

2. If you had arrived late, I ………………….. angry.


We use the third conditional when we are imagining a different past. In other words, the person didn’t arrive late. We use if + past perfect with modal verb + have + past participle.

3. They ………………….. the French course yet.


We often use just, yet, still and already with the present perfect because they are related to the present moment. Yet used with the present perfect means 'at any time up to now'.

4. My family ………………….. in Australia for a year when I was a child.


The simple past is used to show a completed action in the past. It is often used with a specific time e.g. one year ago, yesterday, when I was a child.

5.Most major cities ...................... significantly over the last 30 years.


We use the present perfect for something that started in the past and continues up until the present day. This is 30 years ago up until now. It’s not a finished event so it’s not past simple and it doesn’t refer to the future.

6. Mick usually ………………….. his dog in the afternoon.


We use the simple present to talk about habitual present actions. As it is third person singular (Mick), we must have the ’s’.

7. I’m tired. I ………………….. for 3 hours!


This is an unfinished action so is a perfect tense. It is present (I am tired) so it will be a present tense (so not C). The present perfect continuous can be used to emphasise the length of time that has passed, rather than the present perfect which is more neutral (e.g. I’ve studied for hours).

8. This time next year I ………………….. in London for 7 years.


The future perfect continuous tense, also known as the future perfect progressive tense, is used to indicate a certain duration of time up to a point in the future.

9. They will read the report fully before they …………………..


This is a time-related activity. When the main clause has a modal such as will, may, can, shall, the verb in the clause following the preposition (before) is in the present tense.

10. While I was reading, the phone …………………..


We use the simple past to refer to shorter actions that happen in the middle of a longer action. Rung is the past participle so it can't be this.


 

 

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