Tenses, verbals, aspect and voice (Q5 C)

Verb forms, tense, time and aspectOften examined

Every English sentence has a verb that tells us what happens and when it happens. To choose the right verb form you need three ideas: the five forms of a verb, the difference between time and tense, and aspect (how the action is seen: finished, in progress, or both).

The five forms of a verb

Time, tense and aspect

Time

The real moment of the action: past, present or future. Time is a fact about the world.

Tense

The form of the verb that shows time. Strictly, English has two tenses by form: present (she writes) and past (she wrote). The future is made with helping verbs such as will and shall. School grammar counts 12 tenses: 3 times multiplied by 4 aspects.

Aspect

How the speaker sees the action: as a simple fact, as an action in progress, as an action completed before a point, or as an action in progress up to a point.

Auxiliary (helping) verb

A verb that helps the main verb make a tense, a question, a negative or the passive: be (am, is, are, was, were, been), have (has, have, had), do (do, does, did), will, shall, and the modals.

Finite verb

A verb that shows tense and agrees with its subject (She writes, They wrote). Every full sentence needs one.

Non-finite verb (verbal)

A verb form that does not show tense on its own: the infinitive (to write), the gerund (writing, used as a noun) and the participle (writing, written, having written, used as an adjective).

The four aspects

What FBISE means by "aspects of time"

The Q5 C heading reads "Fill in any SIX blanks using the appropriate verbs/verbals/aspects of time". Here "aspects of time" covers two kinds of blank:

1. Choosing the right tense and aspect from a time clue in the sentence: yesterday needs the past simple, by the time the train arrived needs the past perfect, by next Monday needs the future perfect.
2. Choosing the right time word for the tense already in the sentence: ago or before, already or yet, usually or yet, since or for. These are covered in the section on tense signal words.

The 12 tenses at a glanceOften examined

This one table is the whole tense system. Learn the formula column first: if you know the formula, you can make the positive, negative and question forms of any verb.

Making negatives and questions

• If the verb already has a helping verb (am, is, are, was, were, has, have, had, will, shall, can ...), put not after the first helping verb for a negative (He has not finished), and move the first helping verb before the subject for a question (Has he finished?).
• If there is no helping verb (present simple and past simple), add do, does or did and use V1: She teaches becomes She does not teach and Does she teach?; Ali won becomes Ali did not win and Did Ali win?
• Wh- questions put the question word first, then the same order as a yes/no question: Where does she teach? Why had the train left?
• Short forms: isn't, aren't, wasn't, weren't, don't, doesn't, didn't, hasn't, haven't, hadn't, won't (will not), shan't (shall not).

The present tenses in detailOften examined

Present simple

• Habits and routines: I offer Fajr prayer every morning.
• Facts and universal truths: The sun rises in the east. Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.
• Timetables and fixed schedules (even for the future): The PIA flight leaves at 6 am tomorrow.
• States, feelings and thinking (stative verbs): I know the answer. This bag belongs to Sana.
• The future in time clauses and if-clauses: I will call you when I arrive home (not when I will arrive).

Spelling of the s-form: add -es after s, ss, sh, ch, x, o (misses, washes, watches, fixes, goes, does); consonant + y becomes -ies (study, studies); vowel + y just adds -s (plays).

Present continuous

• Action happening at the moment of speaking: Look! It is snowing in Murree.
• Temporary situation: My brother is staying with us this month.
• A fixed future arrangement: We are leaving for Lahore tonight.
• An annoying habit, with always: He is always interrupting me.

Present perfect

• A past action whose result is important now, time not given: I have lost my pen (I do not have it now).
• Life experience, with ever and never: Have you ever visited Skardu? I have never seen snow.
• A very recent action, with just: The result has just been announced.
• An action in a period that is not over: I have drunk three cups of tea today.
• A state from the past up to now, with since or for: They have lived in Islamabad since 2015.

Present perfect continuous

• An action that started in the past and is still going on, with the length of time stressed: She has been studying for three hours.
• An action that has just stopped and has a visible result: Your eyes are red. Have you been crying?

The past tenses in detailOften examined

Past simple

• A completed action at a definite past time: Pakistan won the World Cup in 1992.
• A past habit: As a child, I walked to school every day.
• A series of past actions in order: He came in, sat down and opened his book.
• In if-clauses and wishes for unreal present situations (see conditionals and the subjunctive): If I had wings, I would fly.

Past continuous

• An action in progress at a definite past moment: At 9 pm yesterday, I was watching the match.
• A longer background action interrupted by a short one (past simple): While I was doing my homework, the lights went out.
• Two actions in progress at the same time: While Amna was cooking, Ahmed was laying the table.

Past perfect

When two things happened in the past, the past perfect shows the earlier one; the past simple shows the later one.

Past perfect continuous

• An action that continued for a period up to another past action: They had been waiting for two hours when the bus finally came.
• A cause shown by a visible result in the past: The ground was wet because it had been raining all night.

The future tenses and other ways to talk about the futureOften examined

Future simple: will/shall + V1

• Predictions and future facts: It will be hot in Jacobabad next week. Eid will fall on a Friday.
• Promises, offers and sudden decisions made while speaking: I will help you. The phone is ringing; I will answer it.
• The main clause of a first conditional: If it rains, the match will be cancelled.

Future continuous: will be + V-ing

• An action in progress at a future moment: At this time tomorrow, I will be writing my English paper.
• A planned event in the normal course of things: We will be visiting our grandparents during the holidays.

Future perfect: will have + V3

• An action that will be complete before a future time: By next Monday, we will have completed the project. By 2030, the new dam will have been built.
• The time phrase almost always begins with by: by next Monday, by then, by tomorrow evening, by the end of the year, by the time you arrive.

Future perfect continuous: will have been + V-ing

• The length of an action up to a future point: By December, he will have been teaching here for ten years.

Other ways to show the future

Stative verbs: not used in the continuous

Dynamic verbs show actions that can be in progress (run, eat, write, build). Stative verbs show states: things that are simply true for a time, such as thinking, feeling, owning and the senses. A state is not an activity, so stative verbs are normally not used in the continuous tenses.

Verbs that change meaning

Some verbs are stative in one meaning and dynamic in another. In the action meaning they can take the continuous.

Tense signal words and time wordsOften examined

A signal word is a time word or phrase that tells you which tense to use. In Q5 C the blank is sometimes the verb (find the signal word, then choose the tense) and sometimes the time word itself (look at the tense, then choose the word).

Ago and before

Since and for

Already, yet, still and just

Frequency adverbs

always (100%), usually, often, sometimes, occasionally, seldom, rarely, hardly ever, never (0%). They show how often something happens, so they go with the present simple (or past simple for the past).

• Position: before the main verb (I always drink coffee), but after am/is/are/was/were (She is always late) and after the first helping verb (I have never been to Gilgit).
• Never and seldom already carry a negative meaning: He never tells lies, not He does not never tell lies.

By the time and by + a future time

Other time links

• No sooner had ... than and Hardly/Scarcely had ... when: past perfect with inverted word order. No sooner had the bell rung than the students ran out. Hardly had I sat down when the phone rang.
• Till/until: up to a time. With the future the clause after until stays in the present: Wait here until I come back.
• As soon as, when, after + past perfect or past simple for the earlier action: As soon as he had finished, he left.
• Last (past simple) and next (future): last Friday, next Friday. Do not use the before them when they refer to now: I met him last week, not the last week.

Sequence of tenses

Sequence of tenses is the rule that the tense of a verb in a subordinate clause (often a that-clause) must match the tense of the verb in the main clause. The most important case: if the main verb is in the past, the verb in the subordinate clause is also moved into a past form.

Exceptions: when the tense does not shift

• Universal truths and scientific facts stay in the present simple: The teacher said that the earth moves round the sun. He told us that honesty is the best policy.
• Habitual facts still true now: She said that she goes for a walk every morning (acceptable when it is still her habit).
• Comparison clauses after than or as take whatever tense the meaning needs: He worked harder last year than he does now.
• If the main verb is present or future, the subordinate clause may take any tense: He says that he will come. She will tell you what she saw.
• Purpose clauses follow the main verb: present or future main verb + may/can (He works hard so that he may pass); past main verb + might/could (He worked hard so that he might pass).

Verbals and the gerundOften examined

A verbal is a form of a verb that is used as another part of speech. It keeps some verb power (it can have an object: reading books) but it is not the main verb of the sentence and shows no tense. There are three verbals: the gerund, the infinitive and the participle.

The gerund

A gerund is the -ing form of a verb used as a noun. Anywhere a noun can stand, a gerund can stand.

Verbs followed by a gerund

The infinitive: to-infinitive and bare infinitiveOften examined

The infinitive is the base form of a verb, usually with to (to-infinitive: to go, to write). Without to it is called the bare infinitive (go, write).

Uses of the to-infinitive

Verbs followed by a to-infinitive

The bare infinitive (V1 without to)

Other infinitive forms

Parallel forms, quotations and fixed expressionsOften examined

Some Q5 C blanks are taken from famous sayings. The rule behind them is parallelism: when two parts of a sentence are joined (by a semicolon, a comma, and, or, than, or is), they should have the same grammatical form. If one side uses a gerund, use a gerund on the other side; if one side uses a to-infinitive, use a to-infinitive.

Gerund or infinitive: verbs that take one, the other, or bothOften examined

Verbs that change meaning

Like, love, hate and prefer

• Both forms are correct: I love reading and I love to read. The gerund is more usual for enjoyment of a general activity or habit; the to-infinitive is common for a particular choice or occasion.
• Would like, would love, would hate, would prefer take only the to-infinitive: I would like to go.
• Prefer + gerund + to + gerund: I prefer walking to driving. Prefer + to-infinitive + rather than + V1: I prefer to walk rather than drive.
• Would rather + V1 + than + V1: I would rather walk than drive. Do not mix it with prefer: I would rather walking is wrong.

Participles and participial adjectivesOften examined

A participle is a verb form used as an adjective (it describes a noun) or used with a helping verb to make continuous, perfect and passive forms. There are three kinds.

Participle phrases

A participle phrase can replace a clause and make writing shorter: As he was feeling ill, he stayed at home becomes Feeling ill, he stayed at home. After he had finished the work, he left becomes Having finished the work, he left.

Participial adjectives: bored or boring

Pairs of adjectives made from verbs of feeling are a favourite MCQ. The -ing adjective describes the thing or person that causes the feeling. The -ed adjective describes the person who has the feeling.

Gerund or present participle: the testOften examined

The gerund and the present participle look the same (V-ing). The difference is their job: a gerund works as a noun; a present participle works as an adjective or is part of a continuous verb.

Modal verbs

Modal verbs are helping verbs that add meaning such as ability, permission, possibility, obligation or advice. Rules: a modal is followed by the bare infinitive (V1); it never takes -s, -ing or -ed; questions and negatives need no do (Can you swim? You must not smoke).

Modal + have + V3 (about the past)

Conditional sentencesOften examined

A conditional sentence has two clauses: the if-clause (the condition) and the main clause (the result). The type depends on how real the condition is and on its time. The clauses can come in either order; put a comma after the if-clause when it comes first.

Unless = if ... not

Unless means if not. The negative is inside the word unless, so the unless-clause itself is normally positive.

Other conditional words and inversion

• Provided (that), providing, as long as, on condition that = only if: You can go out provided you finish your homework.
• In case = because it might happen: Take an umbrella in case it rains.
• Otherwise, or (else) = if not: Hurry, otherwise you will miss the bus.
• Suppose, supposing, imagine = what if: Suppose you lost your job, what would you do?
• Inversion without if (formal): Were I rich, I would travel (= If I were rich). Had I known, I would have come (= If I had known). Should you need help, call me (= If you need help).

The subjunctive: wish, as if, it is time

The subjunctive is the verb form used for wishes, imaginary situations and demands. In modern English it mostly looks like the past tense (or were) used for the present, or like the bare V1.

Active and passive voiceOften examined

Voice shows whether the subject does the action or receives it. In the active voice the subject is the doer: Ali broke the window. In the passive voice the subject receives the action: The window was broken by Ali.

How to change active into passive

1. Find the object of the active verb. Only a transitive verb (a verb with an object) can be made passive.
2. Make that object the subject of the passive sentence.
3. Use the right form of be for the tense of the active verb, then V3. The tense does not change.
4. Put the old subject after by (the agent), changing a pronoun to its object form: I to me, we to us, he to him, she to her, they to them. Leave out the agent when it is unknown or obvious (by someone, by people, by them).
5. Make the verb agree with the new subject: They grow rice becomes Rice is grown; He writes letters becomes Letters are written by him.

Passive of other structures

When the passive is used

• The doer is unknown: My bicycle has been stolen.
• The doer is obvious or unimportant: The thief was arrested (by the police). Rice is grown in Punjab.
• The action or result matters more than the doer: news reports (Ten people were injured in the accident), science (The solution is heated to 80 degrees), instructions and notices (Smoking is not allowed).
• To sound formal or polite, or to avoid blaming someone: Mistakes were made. You are requested to be seated.
• To keep the same topic as the subject of connected sentences: The Badshahi Mosque is in Lahore. It was built by Aurangzeb in 1673.

How to solve Q5 C in the examOften examined

Q5 C gives eight sentences, each with a blank and two choices in brackets. You answer any six for 6 marks (1 mark each). One choice is always clearly wrong once you spot the pattern.

Four steps for every blank

1. Read the whole sentence and underline the time word (yesterday, by next Monday, by the time, since, usually) or the word just before the blank (enjoy, stop, promised, had better, must, would rather).
2. Name the pattern: tense from a time clue, gerund after a verb or preposition, to-infinitive after a verb, bare infinitive after a modal or had better, parallel form, or time word for the tense.
3. Test both options in the sentence. Reject the one that breaks a rule you can name.
4. Write the answer next to its number. Writing the full completed sentence is safe but the word(s) alone earn the mark: (iii) had bought.

Pattern bank from the 2026 papers and the model paper

Key terms

Tense

The form of a verb that shows the time of an action: present, past or future. School grammar counts 12 tenses (3 times x 4 aspects).

Aspect

How an action is seen: simple (a plain fact), continuous (in progress), perfect (completed before a point) or perfect continuous (in progress up to a point).

Aspects of time

FBISE's Q5 C term for choosing the right tense and aspect, and the right time word (ago/before, already/yet, usually), from the clues in a sentence.

Simple aspect

Shows an action as a whole fact or habit: writes, wrote, will write.

Continuous (progressive) aspect

be + V-ing: shows an action in progress at a point of time.

Perfect aspect

have + V3: shows an action completed before a point of time, with its result at that point.

Perfect continuous aspect

have + been + V-ing: shows an action in progress for a period up to a point of time.

Auxiliary (helping) verb

A verb (be, have, do, will, shall or a modal) that helps the main verb form a tense, question, negative or passive.

Finite verb

A verb that shows tense and agrees with its subject; every full sentence needs one.

Verbal (non-finite verb)

A verb form used as another part of speech and showing no tense: gerund, infinitive or participle.

Gerund

The -ing form of a verb used as a noun: Swimming is good exercise.

To-infinitive

to + V1, used as a noun, adjective or adverb: I want to learn.

Bare infinitive

V1 without to, used after modals, do, make, let, had better and would rather: You had better take rest.

Present participle

V-ing used as an adjective or in continuous tenses: a running tap; she is running.

Past participle

V3 used as an adjective or in perfect and passive forms: a broken glass; it was broken.

Perfect participle

having + V3: an action completed before the main action: Having finished the work, he left.

Participial adjective

An adjective made from a participle: -ing for the cause of a feeling (boring), -ed for the person who feels it (bored).

Dangling participle

A participle phrase that does not describe the subject of the main clause, making the sentence illogical.

Stative verb

A verb that shows a state (know, belong, like, own, seem), normally not used in continuous tenses.

Dynamic verb

A verb that shows an action that can be in progress (run, write, build).

Signal word

A time word or phrase that points to a tense: yesterday (past simple), since (perfect), by next Monday (future perfect).

Sequence of tenses

The rule that a past main verb puts the verb of the subordinate clause into a past form: He promised that he would come.

Parallelism

Using the same grammatical form for joined parts of a sentence: To err is human, to forgive divine.

Modal verb

A helping verb that shows ability, permission, possibility, obligation or advice (can, may, must, should, will, would), followed by V1.

Conditional sentence

A sentence with an if-clause (condition) and a main clause (result): zero, first, second, third or mixed.

Unless

A conjunction meaning if not; the unless-clause is normally positive.

Subjunctive

The verb form for wishes, unreal situations and demands: I wish I were; It is time we left; He suggested that she go.

Active voice

The subject does the action: Ali broke the window.

Passive voice

The subject receives the action; be + V3: The window was broken by Ali.

Agent

The doer of the action in a passive sentence, introduced by by.

Transitive verb

A verb that takes an object; only transitive verbs have a passive.

Intransitive verb

A verb with no object (sleep, arrive, happen); it has no passive.

FBISE paper questions

Questions from the FBISE HSSC-II 2026 (1st Annual) papers, the old-syllabus paper and FBISE model papers that belong to this unit, answered the way an examiner expects.

Exam focus

1. Q5 C: choose the tense from a time clue (yesterday, last night, by the time, by next Monday) (short)
   Every 2026 set and the model paper had two such blanks.
   Go to answer
2. Q5 C: gerund after enjoy, avoid, quit, stop, prefer, mind (short)
   The most frequent Q5 C blank: 9 of the 32 blanks on the four papers.
   Go to answer
3. Q5 C: bare infinitive after must, should, had better, would rather; to-infinitive after promise (short)
   Appeared in Set A, Set D and the model paper.
   Go to answer
4. Q5 C: parallel quotations (To err is human, to forgive divine; To see is to believe; It is better to try) (short)
   One blank of this kind was on all four papers (Reading ... writing in Set B).
   Go to answer
5. Q5 C: ago or before; usually/always/often or already/yet (short)
   One or two blanks of this kind in every set.
   Go to answer
6. MCQ: name the tense of a sentence (future continuous, past perfect, future perfect) (mcq)
   Set B MCQ 5, Set D MCQ 13 and old syllabus MCQ 12 were all tense-naming items.
   Go to answer
7. MCQ: gerund or present participle (mcq)
   Set A MCQ 3 and old syllabus MCQ 11 asked this; the test is whether the -ing word works as a noun.
   Go to answer
8. Stop, remember, forget, try, regret with a gerund or a to-infinitive (mcq)
   The meaning changes, so these make ideal MCQs and Q5 C blanks (Stop kidding, Stop talking).
   Go to answer
9. Conditionals and the unless trap (mcq)
   Unless you listen, you will not learn is correct; the double negative version is the trap.
   Go to answer
10. Active and passive in every tense (mcq)
    Passive forms are a standard grammar MCQ and appear in editing tasks.
    Go to answer