We all know, the English language is very tricky. We need to pay attention to every part of its Grammar to avoid silly mistakes. Here we are going to discuss errors in tenses. This is the common area where students make mistakes. Thus, here we highlight some errors in tenses and know how to rectify them. Firstly, we need to know the tenses meaning. So, tense indicates the time in which any action is performed. It means it shows something is happening, happened or going to happen. If something is happening, this is the Present Tense. If something happened, it’s past tense. And if it is going to happen means it is future tense. 

Types of Errors in Tense

When we solve tenses exercises, we face much confusion about tenses and their types. So, make it clear by knowing the rules of every type of tense one by one. Also, we know the trick to finding and rectifying the errors. And practice exercises identifying the errors in tenses. 

Present Tense

The present tense shows the action which is happening at the same moment. It is divided into four parts:-

Simple present

Simple present tense deals with the activities happening in the current time. Let us know it more deeply to rectify errors in tenses. 

Structure:- Subject+ V1+ Object. 

Rules:-

1. We use ‘s/es’ with verbs in a third-person singular subject. Such as with He, She, It and noun subjects. 
2. We used V1 with a plural subject. 

Present continuous tense

Present continuous tenses meaning the action continues. 

Structure:- Subject + is/am/are + V4+ Object. 

Rules:-

• We always use ‘is’ with a third-person singular subject. Such as He, She, It and noun subjects. 
• We always use ‘am’ with a first-person singular number. It means ‘I’. 
• We use ‘are’ with plural subjects. It means ‘We, You and They.’
• We always use the present participle form of the verb (Verb 4) with this Tense. 

Present perfect tense

The present perfect tenses meaning the act is completed in the current time. 

Structure:- Subject + have/has + V3 + Object. 

Rules:-

• We use ‘has’ with a third-person singular (He, She, It and Name) subject. 
• We use ‘have’ with plural subjects (We, You, They) and singular subject ‘I.’ 

Present perfect continuous tense

Present perfect continuous tenses meaning something started and completed in the present. 

Structure:- S + has/have + been + V4 + Object + since/for.

Rules:-

• We use ‘has’ with a third-person singular (He, She, It and Name) subject.
• We use ‘have’ with plural subjects (We, You, They) and singular subject ‘I.’
• We use ‘since’ for denoting a point of time, and for the duration of time, we use ‘for.’

Past tense 

Past tense deals with the action that was completed. 

Simple past

Simple past tenses meaning the event, which was certainly completed. 

Structure- S + V2 + Object. 

Rules:- 

• We use 2nd form verbs with all subjects in the simple past. 

Past continuous tense

Structure- S + was/were + V4 + O. 

Rules:-

• We use ‘was’ with singular subjects. ( I, He, She, It, and noun names) 
• We use ‘were’ with plural subjects. ( We, You, and They) 

Past perfect tense

Structure- S + had + V3 + O. 

Rules:-

• We use ‘had’ and the third form of the verb with every subject in the past perfect tense.

Past perfect continuous tense

Past perfect continuous deals with the action which began in the past and continues for something in the past. 

Structure- S + had + been + V4 + O + since/for.

Rules:-

• We use ‘had’ with every subject in the past in perfect continuous tense.
• We use the fourth form of the verb in this Tense. 
• We use ‘since’ for denoting a point of time, and for the duration of time, we use ‘for.’

Future Tense

The future tense is used to show the activities planned to happen. 

Simple Future

Structure- S + will/shall + V1 + O. 

Rules:-

• We use shall with ‘I’ and ‘We’. 
• We use will with You, He, She, It, They and Noun Names. 

Future continuous tense

Structure- S + shall/ will + be + V4 + O. 

Rules:-

• We use shall with ‘I’ and ‘We’. And we use ‘will’ for the rest of the subject. 

Future perfect tense

Structure- S + will/shall + have + V3 + O. 

Rules:- 

• We use the third form of the verb in the future perfect tense. 

Future perfect continuous tense

Structure- S + will/shall + have + been + V4 + O

Rules:-

• We use the fourth form of the verb with the future perfect continuous tense.

Conclusion

After reading the above article, we understand the past, present, and future tense structure and rules with its types. We know the present tense says something is happening, the past tense says something happened. And, The future tense says something is going to happen. Additionally, we also practice some questions to identify and rectify errors in the Tense. You need to practice more exercises identifying the errors in tenses. It will make your concept clear, and you will understand the tense’s meaning.

Moreover, pay attention to the condition of the sentence. Then, use the structure of the Tense. This simple trick can help to crack any exams.