Can you pass this English Grammar Test? - All 12 Tenses Mixed Test

Hello, everyone, and welcome  back to English with Lucy.

In this video,

I am going to test you on  all 12 tenses in English.

The test is divided into 6 rounds. Each round  

is on a different topic from  travel to world facts to food.

You're going to answer multiple-choice  questions. You're going to find mistakes.  

And you're going to complete gaps. The  quiz gets harder and harder as we go along.

If you're a beginner, let's see how  far you get. If you're advanced,  

let's see how far you get  without making a mistake.

And if this test leaves you wanting  more, I have the perfect thing for you:  

I have created a free online Level Test  so you can check your level of English.

It will help you identify  what you need to work on next.

If you would like to take  my free online Level Test,  

click on the link in the description  box or scan the QR code right there.

I'll send you your results by email.

Okay, let's begin with this test!

Make sure to keep score as we go  along, I want to know how you do.

The first 6 questions are part of a story  about travel. See if you can follow it.

Ready? 1) 'When I _ 30, I _  to take my first solo trip.'

Is it 'turned' and 'decided' or 'had  been turning' and 'had been deciding'?

It is 'turned' and 'decided'. We use the  past simple for completed actions in the  

past. 2) 'I _ anywhere alone before.'  Is it 'never go' or 'had never been'?

It should be 'had never been'.  We use the past perfect simple  

to talk about something that happened  (or not) before another past event. 

3) 'I _ a ticket to Hungary 2 days after  my birthday.' 'Have booked' or 'booked'?

It should be 'booked'.

Use the past simple for a completed  action with a specific time reference.

4) 'And I started to dream: This time next week,  

I _ the streets of Budapest,  eating delicious Hungarian food.'

Is it 'will be wandering' or 'am wandering'?

It should be 'will be wandering'. Use  the future continuous to talk about  

actions that will be in progress  at a certain point in the future.

5) 'But while I _ on the plane, I  started to worry about being lonely.'

Is it 'had sat' or 'was sitting'?

It should be 'was sitting'.

We often use the past continuous  and past simple together

to describe a longer action  interrupted by a shorter one.

And 6) 'Well, I didn't need to worry. Right now,  

I _ by the Danube _ a glass of very strong  Hungarian brandy with some new friends.'

Is it 'am sitting' and  'enjoying' or 'sit' and 'enjoy'?

It should be 'am sitting' and 'enjoying'. We use  

the present continuous for ongoing  actions at the moment of speaking.

All right, that was the first round of your  test. What is your score out of 6 for round 1?

Next, we're going to look at one  of my favourite topics: food.

Number 1) 'I usually _ fruit for  breakfast, but it's winter now,  

so at the moment, I _ porridge.' Is it 'eat'  and 'am having' or 'am eating' and 'have'?

It should be 'eat' and 'am having'. Use  the present simple to talk about habits  

and the present continuous to talk  about things we see as temporary.

'As soon as the cold weather goes  away, I'll be back to fruit.'

2) 'Diego _ his dinner, so  he can't be hungry again.'  

Is it 'just finished' or 'has just finished'?

The answer is both.

I'll give you that one for free. Most  North American English speakers would  

use the past simple and most British  English speakers, like me, would use  

the present perfect to talk about a recently  completed action with an effect on the present.

Which do you use?

I know that was a trick question,  but I hope it made you think.

3) 'I _ making my own pizza dough but  I _ to get a better food processor.'  

Is it 'I'm loving' and 'I'm  needing' or 'love' and 'need'?

It should be 'love' and 'need'.  These are stative verbs so we  

don't usually use them in continuous tenses.

You will hear some stative verbs used in  the continuous tenses in informal speech.  

For example—'I am loving this TV series.'

Use it with your friends, don't use it in an exam!

4) 'My brother and I _ lunch  with our parents tomorrow at  

1 pm.' Is it 'are having' or 'will have'?

It should be 'are having'.  Use the present continuous  

for arrangements in the future. 'Will  have' sounds a little bit unnatural.

You can use it, you will be  understood, it just sounds very formal.

'Are having' is the best of the 2 options.

Number 5) 'By this time next year,  my favourite bakery _ traditional  

sourdough bread for a century.' Is it  'will bake' or 'will have been baking'?

It is 'will have been baking'. Use the  future perfect continuous to look back  

from a point in the future and say the  duration of an action up to that point.

6) 'I chocolate _ all day, so I _ to  the shops and bought a huge bar!' Is  

it 'craved' and 'had gone' or  'had been craving' and 'went'?

It should be 'I had been craving  chocolate all day, so I went to the shop…'  

Use the past perfect continuous for a longer  action but continued up to another in the past. 

Use the past simple for the later action.

Okay, that's the end of your second round.

Please write your scores  for round 2 in the comments!

Okay, now we're going to learn  some fun geographical facts,  

so you don't just learn English on  this channel. We do geography too.

You will see a sentence and I want you to  decide if it is grammatically correct. If not,  

try to correct it. Are you ready?  Number 1) 'For the past 50 years,  

the Dead Sea sinks over 1 metre per year.'

Correct or incorrect?

This is incorrect! To talk about  something that began in the past  

and is likely to continue in the future, we  use the present perfect simple: 'has sunk'.

Or the present perfect  continuous 'has been sinking'.

We could also say 'sank' the past simple, but  that implies that the sinking has stopped.

You can have 1 full point for the first  2 and half a point for 'sank', okay?

Number 2) 'Mt Everest is growing by about  4mm every year.' Correct or incorrect?

This one is correct. We can  use the present continuous to  

talk about things that are changing or developing.

3) In 1966, a glacier in Canada was moving so  

quickly that scientists called  it the "Galloping Glacier".

Notice /ˈglæsiə/ tends to be  the British pronunciation,  

/ˈgleɪʃiər/ is the North  American English pronunciation,

but we mixed the pronunciations all the time.

I've heard /ˈgleɪʃiər/ in Britain. 

Enough about the pronunciation.  Is this correct or incorrect?

This is correct. We can use the past continuous to  

talk about past events that began before  and continued after a time in the past.

4) 'In the early 19th century, the Mississippi  River has run backwards for a few months.'

Correct or incorrect?

This one is incorrect. We have  a specific time in the past,

so we use the past simple 'ran'.  Number 5) 'If you visited one new  

beach in Australia every day, it would  take over 27 years to see them all.'

Correct or incorrect?

This one is correct. It's the second conditional  

with the past simple 'visited' and  'would' + base verb - 'would take'.

The last one: number 6) The Sahara Desert expands  for thousands of years. Correct or incorrect?

This one is incorrect.

We'd often use the present perfect continuous  here 'has been expanding' as it's ongoing.

Okay, how did you do in round 3? Remember to  share your score. We are now halfway through,  

how are you doing? It's only going to get harder.

Our next round is about science and technology.

You will see 3 sentences together. You  need to decide which one is not correct.

The first sentence: 'AI capabilities are  advancing rapidly.' The second: 'By 2030,  

scientists have been researching AI-driven  medical treatments for around 60 years.'

And the third: 'Scientists have not discovered  a way to stop the ageing process entirely.'

Which one is incorrect?

It is the second one, it should be 'will  

have been researching'—this is  the future perfect continuous.

Okay, here's your second bunch  of sentences—1) 'The next rocket  

launches on Friday 23rd from Cape Canaveral.'

2) 'In the future, robots will  assist in nearly every industry.'

And 3) 'I wish I was alive to see the  first Moon landing.' Which is incorrect?

The last one is not correct.

When we wish for something in the past, we use  the past perfect. 'I wish I had been alive…'

Okay, how did you do on that round?

Let me know your scores.

Okay, let's move on to the next section—world  facts—and this quiz is getting harder!

Now, you need to complete the sentences with the  verb in the correct form. Let's go! 1) 'People  

in Japan _ cherry blossom viewing parties  for centuries.' And the verb is 'to hold'.

It should be 'have held' or my  preference 'have been holding'.  

Use a present perfect tense to talk about  an ongoing action that began in the past.

The present perfect continuous  emphasises duration.

2) 'By the end of this year, the Louvre _ around 9  million visitors.' And your verb is 'to welcome'.

It should be 'will have welcomed'.

This is the future perfect simple to talk about  

something that will be complete  by a certain point in the future.

3) - Where _ footballer Mohamed  Salah from?' The verb is 'to be'.

It should be 'is'. 'Where is Mohamed Salah from?'  'Where is he from?' We use the present simple  

to talk about facts. I just wanted to remind  you of that. And he's from Egypt, by the way.

4) Next year, people _ take a sleeper  train from Amsterdam to Barcelona.'

Your verb is 'be able to'.

It should be 'will be able to'. Use  'will' to talk about future facts.

5) 'By the time English people  started drinking tea, people in  

China _ it for centuries.'  And the verb is 'drink'.

It should be 'had drunk' or 'had  been drinking'. Use the past perfect  

tense to talk about something that  happened before another past event.  

I prefer the past perfect continuous  here to emphasise the duration.

Last in the round: 6) 'How many times _  Brazil _ the Men's Football World Cup?'

And your verb is 'to host'.

It should be—'How many times has Brazil  hosted the Men's Football World Cup?'

Use the present perfect simple to say how  many times something happened up to the  

present if there's a possibility it'll happen  again in the future. The answer is twice.

How did you do? What's your score out  of 6? Are you ready for the final round?

The last 6 questions are about British culture.  

You've got 1 multiple-choice question  and then you'll fill in gaps again.

Let's start with number 1). Brits  have a reputation for being polite,  

but which of these is considered more polite:  'Could you help me?' 'Can you help me?'

It should be—'Could you help me?'

We can use past tenses to be  less direct and more polite.

2) 'Queen Elizabeth II over 30 corgis  and dorgis during her lifetime.'

The verb you need to use is 'own'.

It should be 'owned'. Use the  past simple for completed actions. 

By the way, a dorgi is a mixture  of a dachshund and a corgi.

3) 'If England _ another World  Cup, fans _ happy at all!'

Your 2 verbs are 'lose' and 'not be'.

It should be 'loses' or 'lose' and  'will not be' or 'won't be'. This  

is the first conditional. It's the  present simple + 'will' + base verb.

It also shows 'will' for  prediction based on experience.

In British English, we can use a singular or  plural verb after a collective noun like England,

depending on whether we are thinking about  England as a team ('loses') or as a group  

of individuals ('lose'). In North American  English, the singular 'loses' is preferred.

4) 'Many people think the  British drink tons of tea,  

but they _ as much of it as they  used to.' Your verb is 'not drink'.

The answer is 'don't drink'. This is the  present simple for a fact, we don't have to  

overcomplicate things here. 5) 'By the time  the Beatles _, they 20 number-one singles.'

Your verbs are 'break up' and 'have'.

It should be 'broke up' and 'had had'. Yes,  

'had had'! My students often think 'had had'  is wrong, but it's fine in the past perfect.

And your final sentence? Number 6) 'Right  now, a British person _ because someone _ to  

talk to them on the Tube.' Your  verbs are 'panic' and 'try'.

Yes—'Right now, a British  person is panicking because  

someone is trying to talk to them on the Tube.'

We don't tend to talk to each other on the Tube. We're just going from A to B. 

We use the present continuous  because this is happening right now.

It's just an unwritten rule of British culture. Congratulations on making it to the end! What  

is your score out of 36? Let  me know in the comment section.

And don't worry if some of those  questions were really challenging for you,  

English tenses are really tricky and we have just  scratched the surface of how to use them today.

Remember, if you'd like to get a  clearer idea of your level in English,  

try my free online English Level Test.  The link is in the description or you  

can scan the QR code there. I'll  send you your results by email.

Thank you so much for watching. I  will see you in the next lesson! Muah!