The past simple is simply for the past right? But then there’s the present perfect, and that’s also about the past, but sort of for now as well? What happens when you have the present perfect and the verb have? Is it have had? Have have? Well, that’s confusing enough. Let’s identify the parts of a sentence that show you what tense it is in. For these examples we will use the phrasal verb “switch on”.

·         I switch the light on – Switch on is in the ‘infinitive’ form, where there are no verb changes. There are no auxiliary verbs (to be, or to have), so this is the PRESENT SIMPLE.

·         I switched the light on – Switch on is in the ‘past participle’ form ‘switched’, and there are no auxiliary verbs (to be or to have) so this is the PAST SIMPLE.

·         I have switched the light on – Switch on is in the past participle form, and we have an auxiliary verb ‘to have’, this is the PRESENT PERFECT.

·         I had switched the light on – Switch is in the past participle form, and the auxiliary verb ‘to have’ is in the past. This is the PAST PERFECT.

·         I will switch the light on – Switch is in the infinitive and we have the ‘modal verb’ “will”. This is in the SIMPLE FUTURE.

·         I am switching the light on – switch is in the ‘gerund’ form with ‘ing’ at the end. We also have an auxiliary verb ‘to be’ in the infinitive form. This is the PRESENT CONTINUOUS.

·         I was switching the light on – switch is in the ‘gerund’ form, and the auxiliary verb ‘to be’ is in the past form. This is the PAST CONTINUOUS.

Summary:

• Gerund (ing) = only used in continuous tense.

• Verb in the infinitive and nothing else = present tense

• Auxiliary verb to have = only used in the perfect tenses

• Auxiliary verbs are in the past form = past tenses (past perfect, past continuous)

• Modal verb ‘will’ = future simple tense.

If you can learn the little blocks to put together to make each tense, you can identify these tenses when you see them. Does it have a gerund (ing)? Then its one of the continuous tenses! It is simpler than it seems to begin with.