All English Verb Tenses (and Aspect!) - Grammar Quiz - 50 Questions!

Hi everyone. I’m Jennifer from English with Jennifer. You may know that Pennsylvania is my home state. Massachusetts is my adopted state.

I live outside of Boston. I’d like to tell you about Massachusetts and my life here, and as I do so, I’m going to quiz you on verb tenses.

Technically, there are only two tenses: present tense and past tense. They allow us to talk about actions or events within a present or past time frame.

But we also have something called aspect, and it allows us to be a bit more specific about how an action or an event took place.

Progressive or continuous forms use the helping verb BE + the present participle of the main verb.

We use the progressive aspect to talk about an unfinished action or an action in progress. For example: We’re talking about grammar now. And I’m not done yet.

Perfect forms use the helping verb HAVE + the past participle of the main verb.

We often use the perfect aspect to show duration or a connection between two time periods or two points in time.

For example: I’ve shared many grammar lessons over the years. (And I’ll likely share more.)

We express actions and events in the future different ways. Sometimes we use present verb forms, but we can also use modal verbs.

As in: You will take quiz. You might not get perfect score, but you may choose to take the quiz again.

Remember that I have a whole playlist on verb tenses and free review exercises on my website. I'll put all inks in the video description.

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So, are you ready? There are 50 quiz items. Good luck and enjoy learning about Massachusetts!

Task A. Basic facts about Massachusetts Use the correct form of the verb in parentheses.

1. Massachusetts is in New England. 2. New England comprises six states: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine.

3. Massachusetts and New York share a border. 4. Boston is not as big as New York City. 5. Boston doesn't have as many skyscrapers as New York City.

The simple present is used for general truths and present facts. We use the helping verbs DO and DOES in questions and in negative forms.

We use contractions in spoken English and in everyday writing.

Task B. More facts about Massachusetts Again, use the correct form of the verb in parentheses.

6. Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, is currently home to over four million people. 7. Massachusetts has many colleges and universities. 8. At the present time, over half a million students are studying at colleges and universities in Massachusetts.

9. The city of Boston is building a new skyscraper called the South Station Tower. Construction started in January 2020. 10. According to the current law, when passengers are riding public transportation in Boston, they must be wearing a mask.

The present progressive allows us to show an action that is in progress or a situation that is temporary.

But we don’t normally use non-action verbs in the progressive. For example, BE for states and HAVE for possession.

Sometimes the simple present or the present progressive is possible, but we chose the present progressive to emphasize an action in progress or that an action is unfinished.

Task C. Life in Massachusetts Use the correct form of the verb in parentheses.

11. Jennifer has been living in Massachusetts since 2001. 12. In the past several months, some Boston suburbs have been seeing a migration from the city due to the COVID pandemic.

13. Since the birth of online video calls, more and more people have been working from home with each passing year. 14. Jennifer has been teaching online for more than ten years.

15. Most high school students in Massachusetts have spent at least some time studying remotely over the past year.

The present perfect allows us to express that an action started in the past and continues to now.

Sometimes we can use the present perfect or the present perfect progressive, but the progressive aspect allows us to emphasize that an action is ongoing or unfinished.

The present perfect can refer generally to a past experience without naming any specific times or dates.

Certain time phrases allow us to focus on duration – the length of an action or an event.

Since 2001, in the past several months, with each passing year, for more than ten years, over the past year.

To form the present perfect, we use HAVE/HAS + the past participle of the main verb.

To form the present perfect progressive, we use HAVE/HAS BEEN + the present participle of the main verb.

Task D. The history of Massachusetts Use the correct form of the verb in parentheses.

16. England established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629. 17-18. The Pilgrims did not have religious freedom in England, so they left.

19. Boston played an important role in the American Revolutionary War. 20. The Boston Massacre took place in 1770, creating more tension between the colonists and the British.

The simple past is used for finished actions. Questions and negative forms use the helping verb DID. Regular verbs use the past tense ending -ed, and I go over the pronunciation of the -ed ending in my intermediate lesson on the simple past.

Don't forget in English we have a lot of irregular verbs, and we practice using a lot of the irregular verbs in my Basic English series.

And you can quiz yourself because I have another video that tests you on 110 irregular verbs. All links will be in the video description.

Task E. My First Year in Boston Use the correct form of the verb in parentheses.

21-22. When I first came to Boston soon after 9/11, hardly any language school was hiring teachers.

23-24. My husband and I were often tired in those early months because we were working two jobs each just to make a living.

25. Thankfully, my job as a substitute teacher turned into a full-time position.

The past progressive allows us to show that an action was in progress at a past point in time. Or it can show a temporary situation in the past.

To form the past progressive, we use WAS or WERE + the present participle (-ing) of the main verb.

Remember that we don’t usually use non-action verbs in progressive forms. If you have a finished action or event in the past, use the simple past, not the progressive.

Task F. Living in Massachusetts Use the correct form of the verb in parentheses.

26-27. Some people, like Brazilians, see snow for the first time in Massachusetts, but I’m from Pennsylvania, so I had definitely seen snow before I moved here.

28. Our first apartment was near Boston Harbor. I had never lived so close to the ocean before.

29-30. I grew up hearing the Western Pennsylvania dialect, so I hadn’t heard the Boston accent before coming here.

31-33. We finally moved out of the city when we decided to buy a house. We had been saving our money for this big purchase.

We use HAD + the past participle to form the past perfect.

We use HAD BEEN + the present participle to form the past perfect progressive.

The past perfect allows us to express the first of two past actions or events. We often use it along with the simple past, but remember the past perfect identifies the first point in time.

We use the past perfect progressive for the same reason, but the progressive allow us to emphasize that the action was ongoing. It was unfinished, like saving our money was ongoing up to the point when we decided to buy a house.

Task G. The Future Use the correct form of the verb in parentheses.

34. Boston will likely continue to expand and modernize in the future. 35-36. There are going to be new buildings, but I think the city will always preserve historic sites.

37. We’ve had some bad weather, and we're certainly going to see more blizzards and ice storms. 38-39. If most other developed countries go green, the U.S., including Boston, will also commit to using clean energy.

40. By September of this year, I'll have been living in Massachusetts for twenty years. Wow! 41-43. By this summer, my daughter will have finished middle school. She starts 9th grade in the fall, and she'll be joining my son at the local high school.

We often express the future with WILL + the base verb. However, it’s also possible to use the present progressive and BE GOING TO for plans and predictions.

Remember that in future time clauses we must use the simple present (or the present progressive). Only the main clause can have a future form, like WILL or BE GOING TO.

The future perfect uses WILL HAVE + the past participle of the main verb. We rarely use it because its meaning is very limited. We use the future perfect to express that an action or an event will take place before a future point in time.

The future perfect progressive uses WILL HAVE BEEN + the present participle of the main verb. Its use is also very limited. We use the future perfect progressive to measure how long an activity will take place up to a future point in time.

Note that sometimes we use the simple present with a future meaning to talk about an official schedule or the start or end of an official or public event.

There’s also the future progressive with WILL BE + the present participle. We use the future progressive to talk about an action that will be in progress at a future point in time.

We could also use the future progressive to politely talk and ask about future plans.

Task H. The Best of Boston Again, use the correct form of the verb in parentheses.

44. Boston is known for baked beans and clam chowder. 45. Lobsters are found in nearly every grocery store in Massachusetts.

46. Harvard University has been offering higher education to people in Massachusetts since 1636. 47. Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, earned his doctorate at MIT in 1963.

48-49. The Big Dig was a megaproject that cost billions of dollars. The developers came up with a way to put part of the interstate highway underground so that they could create more green spaces. 50. What wonderful things await us in the future? We'll see!

So, how did you do? There were 50 items. You can calculate your score. And yes, you can take the quiz again, but please do so only after some review. You can use my playlist on verb tenses to review the forms you need to study more closely.

Remember if you’d like practice with my personal feedback, you have two options: YT memberships for written language tasks and Patreon memberships for live interaction, exclusive videos, and bonus writing and listening tasks.

All the links are in the video description.

That’s all for now. Please like the video if you found the quiz useful. As always, thanks for watching and happy studies!

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