ENG • SHS 1Term 2WAEC / WASSCE SyllabusVIP Lesson
Verb Tenses and Aspect: The Twelve-Tense System
Simple, continuous and perfect aspects across past, present, future and future-in-the-past; the present-perfect versus past-simple choice; time markers that force a tense; and the sequence-of-tenses habit for reported and complex sentences.
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Real-World Context & Relevance in Ghana
A Joy FM newsreader moves through tenses minute by minute: "Parliament PASSED (past) the bill last night; the unions HAVE WARNED (present perfect) that they WILL STRIKE (future) if the government DOES NOT REVIEW (present simple) the rates." One broadcast, four tenses, each with a time reason.
Key Syllabus Learning Objectives
- 1Build all twelve active tense forms for regular and irregular verbs
- 2Select tense from time markers (ago/for/since/already/now/next/by the time)
- 3Explain the present perfect versus past simple difference in context
- 4Recognise stative verbs that resist the continuous form
- 5Apply sequence of tenses in complex sentences with past reporting
1
The Construction Grid: Two Bricks, Four Mortars
Brick 1 = the -ing form (be + V-ing marks CONTINUOUS/progressive). Brick 2 = the past participle V3 (have + V3 marks PERFECT). The four time mortars: present (have/is have), past (had/was), future (will), future-in-the-past (would). Simple tenses use V1/V2 alone. Thus "will have been studying" = future mortar + perfect brick + continuous brick + base. Every WASSCE fill-in is solved by rebuilding the formula, not by guessing from translation.
- Irregular V2/V3 set WAEC prefers: go-went-gone, see-saw-seen, do-did-done, write-wrote-written, take-took-taken, come-came-come, run-ran-run.
- The auxiliary chain never skips: will (modal) + be + been — modals take the BARE form after them: *will goes is wrong.
- Past simple of be: was/were; subjunctive "were" survives in "If I were you" even for singular subjects.
- Aspect = completeness camera: simple = fact/habit, continuous = in progress, perfect = before-and-relevant.
Practical Example:
A project poster at a Tamale NGO: "By 2030 we WILL HAVE BUILT forty boreholes" — future perfect: an action completed before a future deadline stated with BY.
Core Takeaway:
Continuous = BE + -ing; perfect = HAVE + V3; tense = only the form of BE/HAVE/modal.
2
Present Perfect vs Past Simple: The Connection Test
Past simple snaps the event into finished time: a definite time word (yesterday, in 2019, last term, when she was young) or a dead person's achievements force it ("Kwame Nkrumah LED independence in 1957"). Present perfect keeps the bridge to now: result visible now ("I HAVE broken my glasses" = wearing another pair), unfinished time space ("SHE HAS written three letters today" — today not over), life experience ("Have you ever eaten kenkey?"), and since/for durations ("WE have studied English FOR two years").
- already (affirmative, before V) vs yet (negative/question, at end): "I have already eaten. Have you eaten yet?"
- just = very recent: "The headmaster has just left."
- "I have been to Kumasi" (visited, returned) vs "I have gone to Kumasi" (still there) — the gone/been pair is a WAEC classic.
- American simple-past with already ("I already ate") exists, but WAEC follows British convention: perfect.
Practical Example:
A result-checking exchange at school: "Have you seen my WAEC slip?" (result now) — "I saw it on the table yesterday" (time specified, so past simple).
Core Takeaway:
Definite past time = past simple; unfinished time or present result = present perfect.
3
Continuous, Habitual and Stative Verbs
Continuous tenses paint actions IN PROGRESS ("they were debating"). But a class of verbs describes states, not activities, and normally rejects -ing: know, believe, understand, remember, forget, love, hate, like, want, wish, prefer, own, possess, belong, contain, consist, mean, seem, matter. WAEC punishes *I am knowing. Note the sense-shifters that DO allow continuous with an activity meaning: think (believe → state; consider → "I am thinking about the offer"), have (possess → state; eat/experience → "having lunch"), see (perceive → state: "I see the point"; meet/visit → activity: "she is seeing the doctor"), taste/smell as actions when someone deliberately tests.
- Habitual present simple: "The sun RISES in the east"; "Ama CATCHES the 6 a.m. tro-tro."
- Continuous for irritating habits with "always": "He is ALWAYS forgetting his ID card" (complaining tone).
- Future with present-continuous arrangement: "I am visiting my uncle on Saturday" (planned).
- Time clauses take present, not future: "When the bell RINGS (not will ring), leave." Same after as soon as, until, before, after, if.
Practical Example:
A teacher's remark: "Kofi is always chatting, but he doesn't understand a word — is he knowing the answers to today's questions?" Both halves test stative verbs (know) and habit continuous.
Core Takeaway:
State verbs stay out of -ing; time/condition clauses refuse will.
4
Past Perfect, Narrative Time and Sequence
The past perfect (had + V3) is the "earlier past" used to move backwards from a past reference point: "When we arrived at the stadium, the match HAD STARTED." Two past events, one earlier → the earlier takes had. Narrative sequencing: past simple advances the story ("She opened the door, switched on the light and saw..."), past perfect fills in what happened before the story time. In reported and time-linked complex sentences after past reporting, shift: present→past, past→past perfect ("She said she WAS busy"; "He said he HAD finished").
- after / before / by the time + past event often trigger perfect: "By the time the ambulance came, the crowd had dispersed."
- no past perfect needed for automatic sequence with before/after ("After she ate, she left" is already clear) — WAEC rewards the had form when order is not signaled.
- the second continuous of the past: "had been waiting" emphasises duration before another past event: "They had been waiting 2 hours when the bus finally came."
- future-in-the-past (would) for old plans that unfolded or failed: "He promised he WOULD return."
Practical Example:
A witness statement at a police station: "The shop had closed before the light went off; I was returning home when the alarm rang."
Core Takeaway:
Two pasts, one earlier: give "had" to the earlier one.
WAEC / WASSCE Examiner Tips
- Scan for the SIGNAL WORD before choosing: ago/last/yesterday/in + past year = past simple; since/for/already/yet/ever/never/recently/so far/today(this week if unfinished) = present perfect.
- In objective items with two blanks describing past events, the EARLIER event almost always carries had + V3 — draw a tiny timeline on your paper.
- Future-in-the-past appears in essays as "would": "I would never forget that day" — use it for past habits/plans to lift expression marks.
- When asked to change a sentence to a given tense, keep everything else identical: examiners deduct for accidental verb changes beyond the required one.
- Stative verb list of 15 (know, believe, love, hate, want, need, own, possess, belong, contain, understand, remember, forget, seem, mean) covers nearly every continuous-error option in the objective paper.
Common Candidate Pitfalls & Errors to Avoid
- Putting a time word with present perfect: *"I have seen him yesterday" — yesterday is finished time, so past simple.
- Using "for" with a point date ("for 2020") or "since" with a span ("since five years").
- Continuous of stative verbs: "I am agreeing", "she is possessing a farm".
- Double future in time clauses: *"When I will arrive, call me" — the clause after when/until/if takes a present or past tense.
- Wrong past participle: "I have wrote", "he has drinked" — memorise V3 of the irregular high-frequency list.
- Sequence break: "The boy said he is tired" is fine for simultaneous truth, but WAEC expected backshift when the report itself is past and the feeling has ended: "he WAS tired."
Topic Mastery Checklist
- Can I build all twelve forms with "walk" and "go" without a table?
- Can I state the time-marker that forces each tense family?
- Can I choose have been to vs have gone to correctly?
- Can I list ten verbs that refuse the continuous form?
- Can I place past perfect in a two-event narrative sentence?
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