Sentence formation in different tenses changes the meaning of sentences.
You should use the tense according to the situation.
We have taken the phrase- play football in a sentence of different tenses in the table below. An explanation is given.
Have a look-
| Tense | Example | Explanation |
| Simple Present | I play football every Sunday. | When we want to say that I play on Sundays regularly. |
| Present Continuous | I am playing football now. | Here we want to say that it is happening now. |
| Present Perfect | I have played football. | Here, the action period is in the past. |
| Present Perfect Imperfect | I have been playing football for 4 hours. | The two actions- the arrival of the mother and the action of playing football are related to each other. The play is finished, and after that, the mother arrives. |
| Simple Past | I played football on that day. | Here the action period is in the past. |
| Past Continuous | I was playing football the whole day yesterday. | The action is done in the past. The time of action is not sure. |
| Past Perfect | I’m playing football now. | The two actions- the arrival of the mother and the action of playing football are related to each other. The play is finished, and after that, the mother arrives. |
| Past Perfect Imperfect | I had been playing football for four hours when my mother arrived. | Here, we point out the playing period before the mother arrived. |
| Simple Future | I shall /will play football tomorrow. | Here, we say that action will be in future. |
| going to-future | I had played football before my mother’s arrival. | Here, I am telling a plan that I have made. |
| Future Continuous | I shall/will be playing football next Sunday. | Here, you might have finished playing football at a particular time in the past. |
| Future Perfect | I shall/ will have played football by Sunday. | I will have played before Sunday. |
| Conditional Simple | I would play football on a turf pitch. | The two actions- the arrival of the mother and the action of playing football are related to each other. The play is finished, and after that, the mother arrives. |
| Conditional Progressive | I would be playing football on a turf pitch. | This is an imaginary situation where we concentrate more on the progress of the action. |
| Conditional Perfect | I would have played football on a turf pitch. | Here, you might have finished playing football at a special time in the past. |
| Conditional Perfect Progressive | I would have been playing football on a turf pitch. | Playing football might have finished in the past. |
Negative Sentences
Here are the negative sentences of the above sentences in the table.
| Tense | Example |
| Simple Present | I do not play football every Sunday. I don’t play football every Sunday. |
| Present Continuous | I am not playing football now. I‘m not playing football now. |
| Present Perfect | I have not played football. I haven’t played football. |
| Present Perfect Imperfect | I have not been playing football for 4 hours. I haven’t been playing football for 4 hours. |
| Simple Past | I did not play football yesterday. I didn’t play football yesterday. |
| Past Continuous | I was not playing football yesterday. I wasn’t playing football yesterday. |
| Past Perfect | I had not played football before my mother’s arrival. I hadn’t played football before my mother’s arrival. |
| Past Perfect Imperfect | I had not been playing football for four hours before my mother arrived. I hadn’t been playing football for four hours before my mother arrived. |
| Simple Future | I shall /will not play football tomorrow. I shan’t / won’t play football tomorrow. |
| going to-future | I am not going to play football this Sunday. I‘m not going to play football this Sunday. |
| Future Continuous | I shall/will not be playing football next Sunday. I shan’t / won’t be playing football next Sunday. |
| Future Perfect | I shall/ will not have played football by Sunday. I shan’t / won’t have played football by Sunday. |
| Conditional Simple | I would not play football on a turf pitch. I wouldn’t play football on a turf pitch. |
| Conditional Progressive | I would not be playing football on a turf pitch. I wouldn’t be playing football on a turf pitch. |
| Conditional Perfect | I would not have played football on a turf pitch. I wouldn’t have played football on a turf pitch. |
| Conditional Perfect Progressive | I would not have been playing football on a turf pitch. I wouldn’t have been playing football on a turf pitch. |
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