Tenses

For your reference and to illustrate the basic tenses and their forms, below is a chart giving the various forms of the regular English verb to march, an action word that most people taking this prep course are all too familiar with.

Tenses of the regular verb to march

Simple

This tense indicates an action of unspecified or indefinite duration; the action could have happened only once or repeatedly.

Progressive

This tense is used to indicate an ongoing action. It consists of a form of the verb to be added to the -ing form of the main verb (called the present participle).

Perfect

This tense is used to indicate an action in the past that has been completed. It consists of a form of the verb to have added to the -ed form of the main verb (called the past participle).

Perfect Progressive

This tense is used to indicate an action that began in the past but is ongoing. It consists of a form of the verb to have (with helping verbs) and the word been added to the -ing form of the main verb.