When to use IS, WAS and Have in questions

When to use IS, WAS and Have in questions

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When to use IS, WAS and Have in questions

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asking and answering present perfect tense questions

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When to use IS, WAS and Have in questions

Time expressions for tenses in English

When to use IS, WAS and Have in questions?

Daily grammar lesson with Elo Kasia. Asking questions in English. When to use “is”, “was” and ”have“ in questions?

Today we are going to continue to practise asking questions. We have learned how we ask questions with “helping verbs”, such as “do” ( for the present simple tense), “did” ( for past simple ) and “will” (future tense).

We use different tenses, that is, different verb forms to talk about the present, the past or the future.

With verb tenses which are made up of at least two verbs, the first verb becomes the “helping verb” and is used for making questions (and negatives).

We will cover here, Present Perfect, Present Continuous and Past Continuous (which are, after the simples tenses the most used in the English language)

Present Perfect – HAS / HAVE

 

Present Continuous – IS / ARE

 

Past Continuous – WAS / WERE

In practice, with these tenses the positive sentences and questions look very similar (you don’t need to add any extra verbs), you just change the order of subject and verb.

Ex. Positive-He has been to Australia. Question- Has he been to Australia?

1. Questions in Present Perfect

HAVE / HAS

The Present Perfect is most commonly used to talk about events which happened at unspecified time in the past and experiences or events which continue into the present.

We use have/has + verb in the Past Participle form. For most verbs add + ed, but there are quite many irregular forms which have to be memorised.

Yes / No questions

• Have you seen the Titanic? Yes, I have. I have seen it twice.
• Has he done his homework yet? No, he hasn’t.
• Have they ever been abroad? Yes, they have. They have been to many foreign countries.

Question words

• How long have you lived here? I’ve lived here for 10 years.
• Which countries has Hassan visited? He has visited more than 10 countries.
• How many times has she been married? She’s been married three times.

  2. Questions in Present Continuous

IS / ARE

Yes /  No questions

• Are you sitting at your desk now? Yes, I am.
• Is she writing an article about questions in English? Yes, she is.
• Is he talking on the phone? No, he isn’t.

Question words

• What are you doing now? I’m having breakfast.
• When is he going on holiday? He is going next month.
• How are they getting there? They are going by bus.

  3. Questions in Past Continuous

WAS / WERE

Yes / No questions

• Were you watching TV at 8 p.m. last night? Yes, I was.
• Was he talking on the phone when you arrived? Yes, he was.
• Were they studying for their test when you came in? No, they weren’t. The were playing games.

Question words

• What was Matty doing when she broke her arm? She was painting her room.
• Why were you wearing a suit and tie yesterday? I had a job interview.
• How fast was he driving when the police stopped him? He was doing over 100 m/h.

Practice asking and answering questions in these tenses to ask what people are doing at the moment or what they are planning for the future (present continuous), what they were doing at a particular time in the past (past continuous) or actions at an unspecified time in the past (present perfect). Follow our TT exercises this week to gain fluency in making and answering different types of questions.

Check my other articles here: All English Time Ask Elo – Learning Articles

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When to use IS, WAS and Have in questions

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Elo Kasia Community Mentor for ” English Grammar and Speaking Academy“.

Director at Eloquent Learning Online, educational institution based in the UK. www.eloquentlearning.com. Grammar Rules

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When to use IS, WAS and Have in questions

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