Lesson 2: Tenses and Sequence of Tenses

🟦 Introduction

When telling a story, describing a routine, or imagining the future, the tense you use tells the reader when something happens. Using the wrong tense can make your meaning confusing or incorrect.

WAEC often tests your ability to:

• Recognize different tenses

• Choose the correct tense in context

• Maintain consistent tense usage in a passage

• Apply sequence of tenses in narration

This lesson focuses on understanding English tenses and how they work together logically in writing and speech.

🟩 Key Concepts and Explanations

1. What Are Tenses?

Tenses show the time of an action or event.

Three main time frames:

• Past – something already happened

• Present – happening now

• Future – will happen later

Each time frame has four aspects: Simple, Continuous, Perfect, Perfect Continuous

2. When to Use Each Tense

• Simple Present: facts, habits, general truths

• Present Continuous: actions happening now

• Simple Past: completed action in the past

• Past Perfect: action that happened before another past action

• Future Tense: predictions, promises, planned actions

3. Sequence of Tenses

In narration, keep verb tenses consistent unless there’s a reason to shift.

Rule: If the main clause is in the past, the subordinate clause usually also shifts to a past form.

Examples:
✔ She said she was tired. (not “she is tired”)
✔ He told me he had eaten already.
✔ I thought you would come early.

4. Common Errors to Avoid

• Switching tenses unnecessarily:
  ❌ She said she is going.
  ✔ She said she was going.

• Mixing present and past in narration:
  ❌ He woke up and brushes his teeth.
  ✔ He woke up and brushed his teeth.

🟨 Practice Exercises

✏️ Exercise 1: Fill in the Correct Tense

Choose the correct verb form.

1. By next week, I ______ my project. (finish)

2. While I ______, the phone rang. (study)

3. He always ______ his keys. (lose)

4. I ______ to Accra last weekend. (go)

5. They ______ the movie before we arrived. (watch)

✏️ Exercise 2: Identify the Tense

State the tense of the underlined verb.

6. She was cooking dinner when I called.

7. We have lived here for ten years.

8. I will be writing my exam next week.

9. He eats breakfast at 6 a.m.

10. They had finished the work before noon.

✏️ Exercise 3: Sequence of Tenses Correction

Rewrite the sentences with correct tense sequence.

11. She said she is busy.

12. He told me he has seen the film.

13. I thought you will help me.

14. The teacher said the exam starts at 8.

15. They said they know the answer.

✅ Answers and Explanations

Exercise 1

1. will have finished (Future Perfect)

2. was studying (Past Continuous)

3. loses (Simple Present)

4. went (Simple Past)

5. had watched (Past Perfect)

Exercise 2
6. Past Continuous
7. Present Perfect
8. Future Continuous
9. Simple Present
10. Past Perfect

Exercise 3
11. She said she was busy.
12. He told me he had seen the film.
13. I thought you would help me.
14. The teacher said the exam started at 8.
15. They said they knew the answer.

🔁 Recap

You’ve learned:

• The 12 major English tenses and how to use them

• How to identify tense shifts in narration

• The rules of sequence of tenses in speech and writing

🪞 Reflection Prompt

Write a short paragraph (4–5 lines) about your day yesterday using at least three different past tenses. Then rewrite the same paragraph as if it will happen tomorrow, using future tenses.