ESL Verb Tenses Exercises: 10 Questions with Explained Answers
Practise tense choice by explaining the situation, not just spotting a time word. These ten questions cover current situations, finished events, earlier past events, habits and future reference. Some allow more than one answer; the explanations show how the meaning or emphasis changes.
Use these public exercises without an account. They are classroom and self-study materials, separate from the platform's grammar library. Teachers can select a few familiar structures rather than use all ten as a placement test.
Ten contextual verb tense questions
Instructions: complete each sentence using the verb in brackets. Follow a named-form instruction where given. Otherwise choose a form that fits the whole context, and give a short reason. If another form also fits, explain it. Write your answers and reasons on paper before opening the key.
Printing for learners: use your browser's Print command. The print layout hides all answer keys and teacher guidance, including keys you have opened, and adds writing space. Keep this page on screen for the explanations.
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1. You moved here in 2019 and still live here now. I _____ (live) here since 2019.
Show answer and explanation for question 1
Answers: I have lived here since 2019. / I have been living here since 2019.
Both connect the past starting point to now. The continuous can draw attention to the ongoing situation; it does not automatically mean you will move soon. I lived here would present the residence as a past period and would not express the same continuing situation here.
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2. The report is complete. Tell your manager when it was finished: She _____ (finish) the report yesterday.
Show answer and explanation for question 2
Answer: She finished the report yesterday.
The event is located in a finished past time. The present perfect has finished does not fit with yesterday in this sentence. Was finishing would describe work in progress rather than state that she completed it.
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3. We missed the opening scene. Use the past perfect to look back from our arrival: By the time we arrived, the film _____ (start).
Show answer and explanation for question 3
Answer: By the time we arrived, the film had started.
The start came before the arrival. Build the requested past perfect with had + past participle. The context establishes the order; the form makes the earlier event explicit.
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4. Tomorrow's flight will be in progress at this time. Use the future continuous: This time tomorrow I _____ (fly) to Madrid.
Show answer and explanation for question 4
Answer: This time tomorrow I will be flying to Madrid.
Use will be + -ing to describe the flight in progress at that future point. Other future expressions can describe a plan, but this item specifically asks for the future continuous viewpoint.
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5. His ten years at this company ended when he resigned. He _____ (work) here for ten years before he resigned. Give one possible answer and explain its focus.
Show answer and explanation for question 5
Possible answers: He worked / had worked / had been working here for ten years before he resigned.
Worked reports the completed period; before already makes the sequence clear. Had worked looks back over that period from his resignation. Had been working emphasises the ongoing work leading up to it. The word for specifies duration; it does not force a present-perfect answer.
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6. This is the office's regular schedule, not a temporary change. Use the present simple: The office _____ (open) at nine every weekday.
Show answer and explanation for question 6
Answer: The office opens at nine every weekday.
The present simple describes this regular schedule. Add -s for the singular subject the office. A continuous form could describe a temporary arrangement in a different context; it is not the form requested here.
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7. You can see rain falling outside right now. Look, it _____ (rain) again!
Show answer and explanation for question 7
Answer: Look, it is raining again!
The present continuous describes what is happening now: is + raining. It rains would usually describe a general pattern rather than this current observation.
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8. The wedding was their last meeting; they have not met again up to today. They _____ (not see) each other since the wedding.
Show answer and explanation for question 8
Answer: They have not seen / haven't seen each other since the wedding.
The negative present perfect covers the period up to now: have not + seen. With a later point in a past story, had not seen could fit instead. Here, up to today establishes the present reference.
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9. Describe a repeated childhood holiday, not one particular trip: When I was a child, we _____ (go) to the coast every summer.
Show answer and explanation for question 9
Possible answers: When I was a child, we went / used to go / would go to the coast every summer.
Went reports the past habit without itself saying whether visits still happen. Used to go presents it as a former habit. Would go describes repeated actions within the established childhood setting; it is not the choice for one single trip.
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10. She expects to finish the course before next June. Use the future perfect to look back at the completed course from that future point: By next June she _____ (complete) the course.
Show answer and explanation for question 10
Answer: By next June she will have completed the course.
Build the requested future perfect with will have + past participle. She will complete the course by next June can also express a deadline, but it does not use the future perfect requested in this item.
Use the explanation to choose the next step
Ask the learner to identify the reference time and explain one answer before choosing more work. A valid alternative is a discussion point, not automatically an error.
- Meaning or timeline unclear: compare items 1, 2, 5 and 8. Ask which periods reach now and which ended in the past. For connected past-time practice, use the existing past-tense narrative pack to discuss main events and background. It practises that contrast, not every form in this worksheet.
- Meaning clear, verb form incomplete: if a learner explains an ongoing action but writes it raining, focus on the missing auxiliary. Use the auxiliary diagnostic and reference chart for be with continuous forms or have with perfect forms.
- Both seem secure: ask for a brief spoken or notebook account using a different situation, and ask the learner to explain a tense choice. Check that new response separately from the worksheet result. A correct gap-fill alone is not evidence of independent use.
Time words are clues, not an answer key. For gives a duration in examples such as worked for ten years and will stay for a week. Since gives a starting point, but the surrounding context establishes the later reference time. Read the whole situation before choosing a form.
For the contrast in items 4 and 10, use the future-continuous comparison and recording-schedule task to distinguish an activity in progress from a result completed by a deadline.
Keep online practice and classroom evidence separate
For a platform follow-up, preview a relevant listed topic in the grammar practice guide and use the class assignment workflow. The ten questions on this page are not an automatically imported assignment or a claim about the exact items in the platform library.
Platform grammar practice checks typed responses against stored answers; it is not AI marking. Assignment records show completion, while the separate grammar view shows topic high scores and aggregate attempts and success percentages. Use the teacher records guide to interpret them. These records do not establish why a learner chose a tense or whether they can use it independently.
A short transfer response can stay in a notebook or classroom discussion. The separate platform writing workflow has a 250-word minimum, so it is not the place for a two-sentence follow-up. If the response reveals a different need, the existing articles practice or conditionals practice may be a more relevant next lesson.
Questions about using these exercises
Can a verb tense exercise have more than one correct answer?
Yes. Context and the intended meaning matter. In item 1, both have lived and have been living fit a situation continuing now. In item 5, before establishes the order, so worked is possible as well as had worked or had been working. Explain a different emphasis instead of rejecting a valid form.
Do since and for always mean I need the present perfect?
No. For describes a duration and can occur with past, present or future reference. Since gives a starting point; the surrounding sentence establishes the later reference time. Decide whether the period reaches now, an earlier past point or another reference point before choosing the verb form.
Can I print these verb tense exercises for learners?
Yes. Use your browser print command. This page prints the ten questions with space for answers and reasons, while hiding the expandable answer keys and teacher guidance. The explanations remain available on screen. Choose only the items your learners have studied.
Can teachers assign this exact worksheet through the platform?
This public worksheet is a separate classroom resource. For online homework, teachers can choose listed grammar topics for a class assignment. Grammar practice checks a typed answer against a stored answer; it is not AI marking. Use assignment completion and the separate grammar records alongside a fresh classroom response.
Grammar references and editorial note
For the distinctions used here, see Cambridge English Grammar Today's explanations of for and since, present perfect simple and continuous, and before with past events, plus the British Council's guide to past habits with used to, would and the past simple.
Prepared by The Kingdom of English with AI-assisted drafting and source checks, updated 19 October 2026. The situations are practice examples, not learner results. See our editorial approach.