Continuous and perfect tenses There are two further types of tense: the continuous and the perfect. These tenses are sometimes referred to as aspects rather than tenses.
The term is used in grammar to talk about the form of a verb that shows, for example, whether the action happens once or repeatedly, is completed or still continuing. Continuous These tenses (also called progressive tenses) are used to talk about actions that continue for a period of time.
They are formed with the relevant tense of the to be and the of the main verb. There are three main continuous tenses: the present continuous ( I am working) the past continuous ( I was working) the future continuous ( I will be working) Perfect Perfect tenses are typically used to talk about actions that are completed by the present or a particular point in the past or future. They are formed with the relevant tense of the auxiliary verb to have and the of the main verb. There are three main perfect tenses: the present perfect ( I have worked) the past perfect ( I had worked) the future perfect ( I will have worked) Perfect continuous There is a final set of tenses which combine features of the perfect and continuous tenses.