Tenses - SSC CGL | Courage Library

1. What are Tenses?

Tenses show the time of action in a sentence.

Present

happening now / habitual

Past

happened before

Future

will happen later

Present → She reads a book

Past → She read a book yesterday

Future → She will read a book tomorrow

2. Basic Tense Patterns

Tense	Structure	Example	SSC Focus
Present Simple	Subject + V1(s/es)	He plays cricket	Habitual actions, error spotting
Present Continuous	Subject + is/are + V-ing	He is playing cricket	Ongoing actions, missing/extra "is/are"
Present Perfect	Subject + has/have + V3	He has played cricket	Misuse of has/have, past time indicators
Past Simple	Subject + V2	He played cricket	Regular/irregular verbs, wrong verb form
Past Continuous	Subject + was/were + V-ing	He was playing cricket	Subject-verb agreement, time mismatch
Past Perfect	Subject + had + V3	He had played cricket before he left	Confusion with past simple
Future Simple	Subject + will + V1	He will play cricket	Will/Shall errors, do/does confusion
Future Continuous	Subject + will be + V-ing	He will be playing cricket	Wrong use of will be/shall be
Future Perfect	Subject + will have + V3	He will have played cricket by 5 PM	Error spotting with by/within time markers

3. Common SSC Error-Spotting Patterns

Pattern 1: Wrong Verb Form

She goes yesterday to school

She went yesterday to school

Pattern 2: Confusion Between Present Perfect & Past Simple

I have seen him yesterday

I saw him yesterday

Tip: Use Past Simple with specific past time (yesterday, last year)

Pattern 3: Wrong Use of Continuous Form

He is going to school yesterday

He was going to school yesterday

Pattern 4: Subject-Verb Agreement in Tense

The students was studying for exams

The students were studying for exams

Pattern 5: Future Tense Traps

Will/shall misuse → "I will go", not "I shall going"
Use of future continuous → correct form: will be + V-ing

He will be playing cricket at 5 PM

Pattern 6: Present Perfect Continuous vs Present Continuous

I am living here for five years

I have been living here for five years

4. SSC CGL Previous Year Questions

Q1. She ___ to the market yesterday.

Options: (a) goes (b) went (c) has gone (d) will go

Answer: (b) went

Q2. I ___ him for ten years.

Options: (a) know (b) knew (c) have known (d) was knowing

Answer: (c) have known

Q3. They ___ playing cricket at 6 PM tomorrow.

Options: (a) will (b) will be (c) will have (d) shall

Answer: (b) will be

Q4. He ___ his homework before he went out.

Options: (a) completes (b) completed (c) had completed (d) has completed

Answer: (c) had completed

Q5. The students ___ studying since morning.

Options: (a) is (b) was (c) have been (d) have been

Answer: (c) have been

5. Quick Recap

Identify time markers → yesterday → past simple, since/for → present perfect, by/within → future perfect
Check subject-verb agreement in all tenses
Watch for continuous vs simple forms
SSC often tests present perfect vs past simple and future continuous/future perfect

6. Practice Questions

(Attempt yourself – answers hidden below)

Q1. I ___ English for five years.

Q2. He ___ to school tomorrow.

Q3. She ___ finished her work before the teacher arrived.

Q4. They ___ playing football at 6 PM yesterday.

Q5. She ___ never seen such a beautiful painting before.

Click for Answers

1. have been learning

2. will go

3. had

4. were

5. has

Tenses for SSC CGL