Mixed Tenses (12 Tenses) – English Grammar Exercises for B2

1 (B)

• Why it’s correct: “Haven’t seen” (Present Perfect) is used for an action that started in the past and continues to the present, especially with time markers like “in ages” or “for a long time.”
• Why distractors are wrong: (A) is a common mistake; Past Simple is incorrect because the period of time hasn’t finished. (C) is a meaning trap; Present Simple indicates a general habit. (D) is a structural error; the past participle of ‘see’ is ‘seen’, not ‘saw’.

2 (A)

• Why it’s correct: “Did you move” (Past Simple) is required because “when” asks for a specific, completed point in time in the past.
• Why distractors are wrong: (B) is a common mistake; Present Perfect cannot be used with “when” referring to a finished past action. (C) is a meaning trap; asks about an ongoing action in the past, which doesn’t fit the context. (D) is a structural error; it lacks the auxiliary verb “did” for a question.

3 (D)

• Why it’s correct: “Am staying” (Present Continuous) is used to describe a temporary situation or an action happening around the current moment.
• Why distractors are wrong: (A) is a common mistake; Present Simple implies a permanent residence or habit. (C) is a meaning trap; it means the stay is already completed up to now. (B) is a structural error; missing the “-ing” suffix.

4 (A)

• Why it’s correct: “Have you been working” (Present Perfect Continuous) emphasizes the duration and recent ongoing nature of an activity that has visible present results (“You look great!”).
• Why distractors are wrong: (B) is a common mistake; it focuses only on the exact present second rather than the recent period. (C) is a meaning trap; it asks about a general lifelong habit. (D) is a structural error; missing “been” and the “-ing” form.

5 (C)

• Why it’s correct: “Will get” (Future Simple) is used for spontaneous decisions made at the moment of speaking (an offer to pay/get the coffee).
• Why distractors are wrong: (A) is a meaning trap; “am going to” implies a pre-planned intention, not a spontaneous offer. (B) is a common mistake; Present Simple is not used for future offers. (D) is a structural error; “will” is a modal and must be followed by a bare infinitive, not an infinitive with “to”.

6 (D)

• Why it’s correct: “Were studying” (Past Continuous) sets the background scene of what was in progress at a specific time in the past.
• Why distractors are wrong: (A) is a common mistake; it sounds like a sudden completed action rather than an ongoing process. (C) is a meaning trap; connects to the present, which clashes with “the last time we spoke”. (B) is a structural error; subject-verb agreement (“you was”) and missing “-ing”.

7 (A)

• Why it’s correct: “Want” (Present Simple) is a stative verb (verbs of feeling/desire) and is generally not used in continuous tenses, even when referring to “right now.”
• Why distractors are wrong: (B) is a common mistake; learners often put stative verbs in the continuous form when they see “right now.” (C) is a meaning trap; refers to the past up to now, ignoring the immediate present context. (D) is a structural error; lacks an auxiliary verb.

8 (B)

• Why it’s correct: “Had wanted” (Past Perfect) shows that the desire started and existed before another past time (“ever since we were kids”).
• Why distractors are wrong: (A) is a common mistake; it fails to show the “past before the past” sequence. (C) is a meaning trap; implies the action continues into the present, clashing with “I knew”. (D) is a structural error; “want” is stative and rarely takes the continuous form, plus it lacks “been”.

9 (C)

• Why it’s correct: “Is opening” (Present Continuous) is used for fixed, confirmed future arrangements (he already bought the ticket).
• Why distractors are wrong: (A) is a common mistake; “will” is for predictions or spontaneous decisions, not fixed arrangements. (B) is a meaning trap; implies the branch will already be open before next month begins. (D) is a structural error; passive/adjective form doesn’t fit the active voice context.

10 (B)

• Why it’s correct: “Had been working” (Past Perfect Continuous) emphasizes the duration of an action (“for a long time”) that occurred before another past action (“Before you got this tech job”).
• Why distractors are wrong: (A) is a common mistake; Present Perfect Continuous brings the action to the present, but Mark no longer works at the bank. (C) is a meaning trap; Past Continuous shows an interrupted action, not the accumulated duration. (D) is a structural error; incorrect passive voice.

11 (D)

• Why it’s correct: “Decided” (Past Simple) is used for a completed action that happened at a specific, finished time in the past (“when I turned 25”).
• Why distractors are wrong: (A) is a common mistake; Present Perfect cannot be used with a specific past time marker. (C) is a meaning trap; implies the decision was a long, ongoing interruption. (C) is a structural error; wrong tense entirely.

12 (B)

• Why it’s correct: “Will be eating” (Future Continuous) describes an action that will be in progress at a specific time in the future (“this time next week”).
• Why distractors are wrong: (A) is a common mistake; Future Simple treats it as a single point-in-time fact rather than an ongoing experience. (C) is a meaning trap; Present Continuous is for planned arrangements, but “this time next week” triggers the future continuous focus. (D) is a structural error; missing the verb “be”.

13 (A)

• Why it’s correct: “Have been running” (Present Perfect Continuous) describes an action that started in the past, continues to the present, and emphasizes the duration or ongoing nature of the activity.
• Why distractors are wrong: (B) is a common mistake; ignores the connection to the past. (C) is a meaning trap; Past Perfect means she stopped running it in the past. (D) is a structural error; incorrect passive structure.

14 (D)

• Why it’s correct: “Was opening” (Past Continuous) is used for a longer background action that was in progress when a shorter action (“I thought about you”) occurred.
• Why distractors are wrong: (A) is a common mistake; using two Past Simple verbs makes them sound like consecutive, rather than simultaneous, actions. (B) is a meaning trap; tense mismatch with the past context. (C) is a structural error; incorrect passive construction.

15 (B)

• Why it’s correct: “Will have opened” (Future Perfect) is used to say that an action will be completed before a certain time in the future (“by the time I come back”).
• Why distractors are wrong: (A) is a common mistake; Future Simple misses the “completion before a deadline” aspect. (C) is a meaning trap; Conditional implies it’s a hypothetical situation that didn’t happen. (D) is a structural error; mixing perfect and continuous improperly without “been”.

16 (A)

• Why it’s correct: “Will have been operating” (Future Perfect Continuous) highlights the length of time an action will have been in progress by a certain point in the future (“By December… for exactly ten years”).
• Why distractors are wrong: (B) is a common mistake; misses the duration aspect (“for ten years”). (C) is a meaning trap; tense mismatch because December hasn’t happened yet. (D) is a structural error; incorrect passive voice.

17 (C)

• Why it’s correct: “Graduated” (Past Simple) is used because the phrase “only yesterday” functions as a specific past time reference.
• Why distractors are wrong: (A) is a common mistake; Present Perfect feels natural for recent memory, but grammatically “yesterday” demands Past Simple. (D) is a meaning trap; graduation is a single point-in-time event, not a continuous process. (B) is a structural error; overusing Past Perfect without a later past reference point.

18 (D)

• Why it’s correct: “Get” (Present Simple) is strictly used after time conjunctions like “as soon as”, “when”, or “until” to refer to the future.
• Why distractors are wrong: (A) is a common mistake; learners frequently put “will” after time clauses. (B) is a meaning trap; implies she is in the process of getting it right now. (C) is a structural error; tense mismatch.

19 (B)

• Why it’s correct: “Had been debating” (Past Perfect Continuous) shows an ongoing action that was happening up until another action in the past (“before I bumped into you”).
• Why distractors are wrong: (A) is a common mistake; Present Perfect Continuous links to the present, but the debating stopped when they bumped into each other. (C) is a meaning trap; conditional does not fit a factual past narrative. (D) is a structural error; incorrect passive voice.

20 (D)

• Why it’s correct: “Will have been chatting” (Future Perfect Continuous) calculates the duration of an ongoing action up to a specific point in the future (“By the time your flight leaves tonight”).
• Why distractors are wrong: (A) is a common mistake; fails to account for the “by the time” future deadline. (B) is a meaning trap; implies a single future action rather than continuous duration. (C) is a structural error; missing the verb “been”.

• Present Perfect vs. Past Simple: Use Past Simple for completed actions at specific past times (e.g., I graduated in 2010). Use Present Perfect for unfinished time or when the specific time isn’t mentioned (e.g., I haven’t seen you in ages).
• Future Time Clauses: Never use will immediately after time words like as soon as, when, before, until. Use the Present Simple to refer to the future (e.g., as soon as I get a local SIM).
• Perfect Continuous Tenses (Past/Present/Future): Always use these to emphasize the duration of an action up to a specific point in time.
• Up to now: Present Perfect Continuous (I have been running…)
• Up to a past moment: Past Perfect Continuous (I had been working…)
• Up to a future moment: Future Perfect Continuous (I will have been operating…)
• Stative Verbs: Verbs of state, feeling, or possession (like want, know, belong) are rarely used in continuous (-ing) forms, even if the action is happening “right now”.