Tenses: past, present and future
Tests: 5 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 4 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 8 of the language course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · ★★ · wrong ✗
Your mate writes "Last week we play footy and we win 3-0." What tense should he use?
- 1. The present: we plays and wins — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. It's fine, "last week" already shows the time — no support
- 3. The future: we will play and win — no support
- 4. The past: we played and we won — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · ★★ · wrong ✗
Your nan goes "gonna isn't a word, ya know." What's the fair answer?
- 1. She's right, nobody anywhere has ever really said gonna — no support
- 2. Gonna is the only correct form now — ← Mova's choice · score 7
- 3. It's spoken "going to"; fine in speech, write "going to" in essays — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. It means "gone to", so it's past tense — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 8, line 9: «Gonna is the spoken form of "going to"; "I was going to" shows a past plan that didn't happen; write "going to" in formal work.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «spoken form» (+4); the same doer «gonna» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · ★★ · right ✓
What would happen if English had no tenses or time words?
- 1. Only questions would make sense — no support
- 2. All stories would be in the future — no support
- 3. Nothing, verbs never show time — no support
- 4. You couldn't easily tell if something happened, is happening or will happen — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score -4
Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 4 with score -4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 8, line 18: «Indian English, used by millions, has its own patterns, such as "I am knowing him for years", where British and American English say "I have known him for year…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «say» (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2); one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-6). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · ★★ · wrong ✗
An Irish mate texts "I'm after finishing me homework, grand." ("Grand" means fine, OK in Ireland.) Has he finished?
- 1. He hasn't started it — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Yes, he's just finished — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. No, he'll do it after tea — no support
- 4. No, he's chasing it — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · ★★ · right ✓
A boomer uncle says "Back in my day I have went to school on foot." How do you put it right?
- 1. I went to school on foot — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. I have goed to school on foot — no support
- 3. I go to school on foot back then — no support
- 4. I gone to school on foot — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · ★★ · wrong ✗
In a video game, the cut-scene says "The dragon was sleeping when the knight crept in." Which action was going on already?
- 1. Neither, it's the future — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The knight creeping in — no support
- 3. Both started at the same time — no support
- 4. The dragon sleeping — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · ★★ · right ✓
Your little cousin says English has no future at all "cos there's no future ending." What's true?
- 1. English has a future ending -ed — no support
- 2. English shows the future with helpers like will and going to — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 3. English uses only "shall" for the future — score 6
- 4. He's right, English has no way at all to talk about tomorrow — score 6
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 6, tied with another option at 6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 8, line 2: «English has no special future ending on the verb, unlike Ukrainian or French; it uses helpers instead: "I will go", "I'm going to go", or even the present with…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «special future» (+4); the same doer «english» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · ★★ · wrong ✗
An American friend asks "Did you finish your homework yet?" Your British gran would ask it how?
- 1. Have you finish your homework yet? — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Have you finished your homework yet? — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. Are you finish your homework yet? — no support
- 4. Did you finished your homework yet? — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · ★★ · right ✓
Your Indian English cousin says "Today I am having a cold." Did you understand her?
- 1. Yes, she has a cold today — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Yes, she gave someone a cold — no support
- 3. No, she is buying a cold drink — no support
- 4. No, she will have a cold later — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · ★★ · right ✓
Dad asks "What'll you be doing at 3 tomorrow?" Which reply uses the future continuous?
- 1. I'll be swimming — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. I was swimming — no support
- 3. I swam — no support
- 4. I've swum — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · ★★ · wrong ✗
A Scouse kid says "I've went the shops, la." ("La" means lad, mate in Liverpool.) In written standard English, what is it?
- 1. I has went to the shops — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. I gone to the shops — no support
- 3. I have gone to the shops — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. I have went to the shops — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗
Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the grammatical category of tense?
- 1. The punctuation concluding a sentence — no support
- 2. The order in which adjectives are arranged — no support
- 3. The form of a noun indicating number — ← Mova's choice · score 3
- 4. The form of a verb indicating the time of an action or state — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 1, line 4: «Every language has grammar, the rules for fitting words together; "The dog ate the bone" makes sense, "Dog the bone the ate" makes people laugh, and the speake…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «dog» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1); a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓
Identify the principal means whereby English expresses future time.
- 1. Auxiliary forms such as "will" and "going to", or the present with an adverb of time — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. A distinct inflectional ending appended to the verb — no support
- 3. English possesses no means of expressing future time — no support
- 4. The exclusive employment of the word "tomorrow" — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗
Ascertain the correct form of the sentence "I have went to France" in standard English.
- 1. I have goed to France — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. I have gone to France — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. I have go to France — no support
- 4. I has gone to France — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the Irish English construction "I'm after eating my dinner".
- 1. It signifies that the speaker is in pursuit of the meal — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. It signifies that the speaker intends to eat presently — no support
- 3. It is devoid of meaning in all varieties of English — no support
- 4. It signifies that the speaker has recently eaten — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/language/8-tenses-past-present-future/