Present perfect progressive How to use it Zoe’s been working for hours. She’s been sitting at her computer since she got up this morning. She’s been doing research for the paper she needs to hand in on Monday. • The present perfect progressive describes an activity that began in the past and has continued until now. It stresses duration and continuation. Past simple How to use it A: We were in California and Nevada last year. B: Did you go to Las Vegas too? A: Yes, we did. But we didn’t win anything. And Bob wasn’t allowed to play because he was too young. • You use the past simple when you want to say that something happened in the past and is over. It is often used with adverbials like ago, yesterday, when, in 2019, etc. The dusty road lay deserted in the heat of the afternoon. Johnny wondered where all the people were. • It is also used to relate a series of events in the past e.g. in narrative texts and reports. Past progressive How to use it We were just getting ready for the first set, when it suddenly started to rain heavily. While we were waiting for the rain to stop, we saw a wonderful rainbow over the whole valley. • The past progressive describes activities that were happening in the past. It is used for the background action; the past simple is used for the new event. The past progressive often appears in clauses with while, the past simple in clauses with when. Lisa was sitting in the garden while her father was mowing the lawn and her brother was playing a computer game in his room. • The past progressive is also used to describe several activities that were happening at the same time in the past, and for gradual developments. Past perfect simple How to use it After the Newmans had left the restaurant, they took a taxi home. As soon as they got home, they noticed that their house had been broken into. The burglars had stolen some jewellery, and a lot of damage had been done to the furniture. • The past perfect simple describes an activity that happened before another activity in the past. The past tense describes what happened at a certain time in the past, and the past perfect simple states what happened before that time. Past perfect progressive How to use it We had been walking for some time when the fog set in. The path we had been following since that morning soon became invisible. • The past perfect progressive expresses that an activity was in progress before another activity in the past. It is often used with for and since. c) Talking about the future “Will” future How to use it The South West will have another wet and cold day, and I’m afraid it won’t get any better soon. • The “will” future describes something that you cannot influence and will happen in the future. I’m sure we’ll get on to Heathrow on time. Harry will probably collect us at the airport. • The “will” future is used after certain verbs (e.g. to think, to expect, to be sure) and adverbs (e.g. probably, perhaps) to express assumptions. Will you have a look at the TV, please? It doesn’t seem to work. – OK. I’ll have a look at it later. • You can use the “will” future when you spontaneously ask for help or offer your help. 171 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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