Professional Communication Multiple Choice Questions on “Types of Tenses”.
1. Which of these is not a type of tense?
a) Present
b) Language
c) Past
d) Future
Answer: b
Clarification: A tense shows the time of action and its degree of completeness. It is broadly classified into three types: present, past and future tense.
2. Which of these is not a type of present tense?
a) Simple
b) Continuous
c) Imperfect
d) Perfect
Answer: c
Clarification: A particular tense can further be divided into four types. They are: simple, continuous, perfect, perfect continuous.
3. A perfect tense denotes an action which has been completed, and is in a perfect state.
a) True
b) False
Answer: a
Clarification: The perfect form (in present, past or future) denotes an action which has been completed, and is in a perfect state. For example: I have loved, I had loved, I shall have loved.
4. Which of these statements belongs to perfect continuous tense?
a) I was loving
b) I had written
c) I had been writing
d) I shall be writing
Answer: c
Clarification: The perfect continuous tense combines the meanings of the both the perfect and continuous tense. For example: I have been writing, I had been writing, I shall have been writing. I was loving is past continuous tense, I had written is past perfect tense, and I shall be writing is future continuous tense.
5. The statement I have written a letter belongs to which of these tenses?
a) Simple present tense
b) Present perfect tense
c) Present continuous tense
d) Present perfect continuous tense
Answer: b
Clarification: The present perfect tense denotes an action which has been completed, and is in a perfect state in the present form. For example, I have written a letter, I have loved, I have been to Chennai. Simple present tense would be: I write letters. Present continuous tense would be: I am writing a letter. Present perfect continuous tense would be: I have been writing a letter.
6. Which of these statements belong to present continuous tense (plural)?
a) We are writing a letter.
b) She is writing a letter.
c) They were writing a letter.
d) We were writing a letter.
Answer: a
Clarification: The correct statement is: We are writing a letter. In the present continuous form the event denotes an action that is still continuing or is yet not completed. It can be in singular or plural form.
7. To which of these tenses does the following statement belong?
We were watching television all day.
a) Simple past tense
b) Past continuous tense
c) Past perfect tense
d) Past perfect continuous tense
Answer: b
Clarification: The past continuous tense is used to denote an action going on at some time in the past. The time of the action may or may not be indicated. For example: We were watching television all day.
8. Fill in with past perfect tense: I _______ my homework when my uncle arrived.
a) completed
b) had completed
c) was completing
d) had been completing
Answer: b
Clarification: The past perfect tense describes an action completed before a certain moment in the past. For example, I had completed homework when my uncle arrived.
9. Which of these is an example of simple present tense?
a) I am going to Delhi tomorrow.
b) There she goes!
c) He has just gone out.
d) I am reading the gita.
Answer: b
Clarification: The simple present tense is used in exclamatory sentences, to express what is actually taking place in the present. For example: There she goes!
10. Choose the correct statement:
a) I am a student for over three years now.
b) I have been a student for over three years now.
c) I am being a student for over three years now.
d) I was a student for over three years now.
Answer: b
Clarification: The correct statement is: I have been a student for over three years now. To refer to something which began in the past and which has continued upto now, we used the present perfect tense.