Future Perfect Continuous

ESL Future Perfect Continuous Conjugation
The Future Perfect Continuous (or Future Perfect Progressive) is constructed this way:

subject + will have been + -ing.The verb conjugation is the same for all subjects, however, this verb tense has the longest string of words. So it's often difficult for English language learners to consistently get the order right.
Here are some examples of Future Perfect Continuous verbs with I, you, he/she/it, they, and we.

1. I will have been talking. I will have been walking. I will have been dancing. I will have been eating.

2. You will have been talking. You will have been walking. You will have been dancing. You will have been eating.

3. She/He/It will have been talking. She/He/It will have been walking. She/He/It will have been dancing. She/He/It will have been eating.

4. They will have been talking. They will have been walking. They will have been dancing. They will have been eating.

5. We will have been talking. We will have been walking. We will have been dancing. We will have been eating. 

ESL Future Perfect Continuous Forms Here are the Future Perfect Continuous forms all English language students must learn.

1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., He will have been teaching English as a Foreign language for forty years by the time he retires.)

2. Negative Usage (e.g., She will not have been living there for very long when she moves.)

3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Will you have been working at your company for many years when you retire?)

4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, he will have been. No, he won't have been. Or, Yes, he will have. No, he won't have.)

5. WH- Questions (e.g., How long will the children have been sleeping when the alarm goes off?)

ESL Future Perfect Continuous Tense Functions The Future Perfect Continuous is used to emphasize the duration of an activity that will be in progress before another time or event in the future.
Here are some examples:

She will have been sleeping for only four hours when the alarm goes off.

We will have been driving for fifteen hours by the time we arrive in Los Angeles.

At midnight, I will have been studying English grammar tenses for three hours.

Also, the activity that will be in progress before the other time or event in the future may be something that started in the past.For example:

He is going to move next year. He will have been living in the same house for twenty years when he moves.

ESL Student Challenges The Future Perfect Progressive tense can sometimes be used interchangeably with the Future Perfect.
For example:

He is going to move next year. He will have lived in the same house for twenty years when he moves.

It's 11 p.m. At midnight, I will have studied English grammar tenses for three hours.

 

 

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Future Perfect

Future Perfect Verb Conjugation
The Future Perfect is formed this way:

subject + will have + past participle.
The conjugation is fairly simple. Only the subject changes. Here are some examples with I, you, he/she/it, they and we. 1. I will have talked. I will have walked. I will have danced. I will have eaten.

2. You will have talked. You will have walked. You will have danced. You will have eaten.

3. She/He/It will have talked. She/He/It will have walked. She/He/It will have danced. She/He/It will have eaten.

4. They will have talked. They will have walked. They will have danced. They will have eaten.

5. We will have talked. We will have walked. We will have danced. We will have eaten.
ESL cloze exercises can be used for Future Perfect lesson plans for verb conjugation.

Future Perfect Verb Form (five forms the ESL student must learn)

1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She will have studied future tenses.)

2. Negative Usage (e.g., She will not have studied the Present Perfect.)

3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Will she have studied the Future Perfect?)

4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she will have. No, she won't have.)

5. WH- Questions (e.g., When will she have studied the Future Perfect Continuous?)

Future Perfect Function

The Future Perfect is used to express an activity that will be completed before another time or event in the future. It's usually used with a time clause, for example, "by the time." The time clause will use the Present Simple tense.
Here are some examples:
By the time I finish dinner, you will have eaten two desserts!

She will have studied English for six months by the time she leaves for the U.S.

By the time she sees her son, he will have been in Iraq for two years.

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Future Simple Tenses

Verb Conjugation
The Future Simple is pretty easy to form. Here's how:

subject + will + base form of the verb.Here are some examples with miscellaneous common verbs.
1. I will talk. I will walk. I will dance. I will eat.
2. You will talk. You will walk. You will dance. You will eat.
3. She/He/It will talk. She/He/It will walk. She/He/It will dance. She/He/It will eat.
4. They will talk. They will walk. They will dance. They will eat.
5. We will talk. We will walk. We will dance. We will eat.

Future Simple Verb Form (five forms the ESL/EFL student must learn)
1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She will teach Future Simple tenses tomorrow.)
2. Negative Usage (e.g., She will not teach the Present Progressive tense usage for the future. She won't teach the Present Continuous.)
3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Will she teach English grammar?)
4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she will. No, she won't.)
5. WH- Questions (e.g., When will she teach the more verb tenses?)

Future Simple Function
The Future Simple tense is used to express future time (pretty simple). It's also used to express willingness. For example, "The phone is ringing. I'll get it."

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Present Perfect Continuous

Present Perfect Continuous Tense Conjugation
The Present Perfect Continuous (or Present Perfect Progressive) is constructed this way:

subject + have/has been + -ing.
The conjugation is fairly simple. However, the ESL student must remember to use "has" for the third person, and there are more parts for the ESL student to keep in order. Here are some examples of Present Perfect Continuous verbs with I, you, he/she/it, they, and we.

1. I have been talking. I have been walking. I have been dancing. I have been eating.

2. You have been talking. You have been walking. You have been dancing. You have had been eating.

3. She/He/It has been talking. She/He/It has been walking. She/He/It has been dancing. She/He/It has been eating.

4. They have been talking. They have been walking. They have been dancing. They have been eating.

5. We have been talking. We have been walking. We have been dancing. We have been eating.

Present Perfect Continuous Forms
Here are the Present Perfect Continuous forms the English language learner must learn.

1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She has been studying English as a Foreign language for four years.)

2. Negative Usage (e.g., She has not been living here since 2005.)

3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Have you been playing tennis for very long?)

4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she has. No, she hasn't.)

5. WH- Questions (e.g., When have they been backpacking through Europe?)

Present Perfect Continuous Tense Functions The Present Perfect Continuous has two functions. The first function is to show the duration of an activity that began in the past and continues until the present time.
Here are some examples of this tense using this first function:

She has been working on this project for three years.

They have been acting strangely since they arrived.

The second function is to talk about something that has been in progress recently or lately.Here are some examples of this tense using the second function:

You look great! Have you been working out lately?

I've been thinking about taking a trip to South America.

 

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Present Perfect

Present Perfect Verb Conjugation
The Present Perfect is formed this way: subject + have/has + past participle. Here are some examples with I, you, he/she/it, they and we.
1. I have talked. I have walked. I have danced. I have eaten.
2. You have talked. You have walked. You have danced. You have eaten.
3. She/He/It has talked. She/He/It has walked. She/He/It has danced. She/He/It has eaten.
4. They have talked. They have walked. They have danced. They have eaten.
5. We have talked. We have walked. We have danced. We have eaten.
Present Perfect lesson plans for verb conjugation can have blanks for students to fill in the correct past participle or the correct helping verb.

Simple Past Verb Form (five forms the ESL student must learn)
1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She has studied the Present Perfect.)
2. Negative Usage (e.g., She hasn't studied the Present Perfect.)
3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Has she studied the Present Perfect?)
4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she has. No, she hasn't.)
5. WH- Questions (e.g., When has she studied the Present Perfect?)

Present Perfect Functions
Here are the three functions of the Present Perfect.
1. Unspecified time
2. Repetition
3. Started in the past and continues until the present, may or may not continue into the future (there just isn't a short way to describe this function)


Function 1: Unspecified time
The Present Perfect verb tense can be used to express something in the past when we don't know when it happened or when it happened is not important. For example, "I've gained ten pounds!"
This function of this verb tense is often confusing for ESL students. Compare the Present Perfect usage to the Simple Past. "I traveled to Europe in 2004." The Simple Past is used when a time is specified. The specified time could be "this morning," "yesterday," "at 6pm," "when I was a child," etc. "I've traveled to Europe." Since no time is specified, the Present Perfect verb tense is used.
Present Perfect lesson plans often ask ESL students to decide which of these two tenses to use.

Function 2: Repetition
The Present Perfect is used to describe something that has happened many (or a couple of) times in the past. For example, "I've traveled to Brazil many times," "I've eaten at that restaurant twice," "John Grisham has written several books."

Function 3: Started in the past, continues until now, and may or may not continue into the future
For example, "I've watched All My Children since 1970." This tense can often be replaced with the Present Perfect Progressive when emphasizing duration. "I've been watching soap operas since 1970." You'll notice that "for" and "since" are often clues to use the Present Perfect verb tense instead of the Simple Past.

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Present Progressive Conjugation, Form and Function

The Present Progressive tense (also called the Present Continuous) is usually one of the first verb tenses ESL students are taught. However, prior to a grammar lesson about Present Progressive conjugation, ESL students have to learn the irregular verb, "to be." The verb "to be" is the helping verb (or auxiliary verb) used to form the Present Continuous.
The Present Progressive is formed by combining the helping verb "to be" with the "-ing" (or the Present Participle) form of the main verb. For example, "She is dancing" ("dancing" is the main verb, "is" is the helping verb).
The Present Participle of the main verb will always be the same, no matter whom or what the subject is. It is the helping verb in a Present Progressive conjugation that will change according to the subject. (See the examples below.)
As with teaching all verb tenses, three things are essential in teaching English Language Learners:
(1) Verb conjugation,
(2) Verb form, and
(3) Verb function.

Present Progressive Verb Conjugation (using miscellaneous common verbs, for example)
1. I am talking. I am walking. I am dancing. I am thinking.
2. You are talking. You are walking. You are dancing. You are thinking.
3. She/He/It is talking. She/He/It is walking. She/He/It is dancing. She/He/It is thinking.
4. They are talking. They are walking. They are dancing. They are thinking.
5. We are talking. We are walking. We are dancing. We are thinking.

Present Progressive Verb Forms (five forms the ESL student must learn)
1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She is talking.)
2. Negative Usage (e.g., She isn’t talking.)
3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Is she talking?)
4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she is. No, she isn’t.)
5. WH- Questions (e.g., When is she talking?)

Present Progressive Function (when to use the Present Progressive)
The Present Progressive/Present Continuous verb tense has two primary functions, and one secondary function:
(1) To express an activity that is in progress at the moment of speaking. The activity is temporary. It began in the past, is happening right now, and will probably end at some time in the future (e.g., I am writing an article about Present Progressive conjugation. She is sleeping on the couch. They are watching television.), and
(2) To talk about something that is happening generally at this time (during this week, this year, at this time one's life, etc), (e.g., I am teaching ESL to adults. She is traveling with friends. He is writing a book.).
(3) Using the Present Progressive for the Future: Depending on the context, the Present Progressive can also be used with a future meaning. For example, "Tonight, I'm cooking dinner for friends."

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Simple Present Verbs

Simple Present Verb Conjugation of Regular Verbs (using miscellaneous common verbs, for example)
1. I talk. I walk. I dance. I think.
2. You talk. You walk. You dance. You think.
3. She/He/It talks. She/He/It walks. She/He/It dances. She/He/It thinks.
4. They talk. They walk. They dance. They think.
5. We talk. We walk. We dance. We think.
Teaching Simple Present verb conjugation is often started with common, every day verbs the student can mostly likely use. There isn't any particular pattern (as in the Present Continuous, for example) to help the student. He or she must simply memorize the conjugation, paying special attention to the ending "s" used for the third person.

Simple Present Tense Verb Forms (five forms the ESL student must learn)
1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She talks.)
2. Negative Usage (e.g., She doesn't talk.)
3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Does she talk?)
4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she does. No, she doesn't.)
5. WH- Questions (e.g., When does she talk?)

Present Simple Functions (when to use the Present Simple)
The Present Simple verb tense has two primary functions:
1. To talk about general truths, that is, to talk about something that was true in the past, is true now, and will be true in the future (e.g., The sun rises in the East. Nurses work hard. Water boils at 100 °C.)
2. To talk about habits or rituals (e.g., I pay income taxes every year. She drinks coffee. We watch T.V. all the time. The Giants always lose.)
After a lesson teaching Simple Present verbs to students, the ESL teacher can also introduce "clue" words, such as "always," "never," "often," etc., to help the student better understand and use the Simple Present.


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Past Perfect Continuous

Past Perfect Continuous Conjugation
The Past Perfect Continuous/Past Perfect Progressive is formed this way:

subject + had been + -ing.The conjugation is fairly simple because only the subject changes. However, there are more parts for the ESL student to keep in order.
Here are some examples with I, you, he/she/it, they and we.
1. I had been talking. I had been walking. I had been dancing. I had been eating.

2. You had been talking. You had been walking. You had been dancing. You had been eating.

3. She/He/It had been talking. She/He/It had been walking. She/He/It had been dancing. She/He/It had been eating.

4. They had been talking. They had been walking. They had been dancing. They had been eating.

5. We had been talking. We had been walking. We had been dancing. We had been eating.

Past Perfect Continuous Forms (five forms the ESL student must learn)
1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She had been studying English grammar for a year before she started speaking English.)

2. Negative Usage (e.g., She had not been sleeping for more than a few minutes before the baby woke her up.)

3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Had she been playing tennis for a while?)

4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she had been. No, she hadn't been. Or, Yes, she had. No, she hadn't.)

5. WH- Questions (e.g., When had she been studying the Past Perfect Progressive?)

Past Perfect Continuous Tense Function
The Past Perfect Continuous has two main functions.

(1) To emphasize the duration of an activity that was in progress before another activity or time in the past.

For example, I had been waiting for them for thirty minutes before they finally showed up.

(2) To express an activity that was in progress close in time to another activity or time in the past.

For example, She was all wet because she had been jogging in the rain.
 
 

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Past Perfect

Past Perfect Verb Conjugation
The Past Perfect is formed this way:

subject + had + past participle.The conjugation is fairly simple. Only the subject changes. Here are some examples of past perfect tense verbs with I, you, he/she/it, they and we.
1. I had talked. I had walked. I had danced. I had eaten.

2. You had talked. You had walked. You had danced. You had eaten.

3. She/He/It had talked. She/He/It had walked. She/He/It had danced. She/He/It had eaten.

4. They had talked. They had walked. They had danced. They had eaten.

5. We had talked. We had walked. We had danced. We had eaten.

Past Perfect Verb Form (five forms the ESL student must learn)
1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She had studied simple tenses before she studied the Past Perfect.)

2. Negative Usage (e.g., She had left by the time I arrived at the party.)

3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Had she played tennis before?)

4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she had. No, she hadn't.)

5. WH- Questions (e.g., When had she studied the Past Perfect Continuous?)

Past Perfect Function
The Past Perfect is used to talk about an activity that was completed before another activity or time in the past. There will always be two past events or activities, or an event/activity and a particular time in the past. They don't both need to be included in the same sentence. Sometimes the other event/activity or time will be understood from the context of the conversation.
Here are some examples:

I had already gone to bed by the time you got home.

She had studied English for six months before she left for the U.S.

He had finished dessert before I even started my entrée.

Her older brother had finished college before she started high school.

You'll notice that the Simple Past is used in the second part of the sentences. These sentences could also be written without using the Past Perfect, like this:

I went to bed before you got home.

She studied English for six months before she left for the U.S.

He finished dessert before I even started my entrée.

Her older brother finished college before she started high school.

 

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Form and Function of English Tenses

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When teaching ESL verb tenses to students of English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, verb conjugation is only one part of verb tense lesson plans. Students can often easily memorize the conjugation for all tenses, but the more difficult part of verb usage is knowing which verb tense to use when.
In addition to conjugation, the two main things an ESL teacher has to teach about verb tenses are form and function. Here's an overview of these two elements.

Five Forms of ESL Verb Tenses (using the Present Progressive/Present Continuous, for example)
Here are the five forms students of English need to learn for every verb tense.
1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She is eating dinner.)

2. Negative Usage (e.g., She is not eating dinner.)

3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Is she eating dinner?)

4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she is. No, she isn't.)

5. WH- Questions (e.g., Where is she eating dinner?)
Of course, in addition to the five forms, you should teach the conjugation of the verb (based on the subject pronouns I, you, he/she/it, they, and we). Here's an example of the verb "dance" conjugated in the Present Progressive.
I am dancing in the street.

You are dancing in the street.

He/She/It is dancing in the street.

They are dancing in the street.

We are dancing in the street.

Yippee!

Function(s) of the ESL Verb Tenses
The next important thing to teach English learners is the "function" of a particular verb tense. Knowing the function(s) of a tense helps the student determine which is the correct verb tense to use.
Let's continue to use the Present Progressive for our example.
The main function of the Present Progressive is to describe something that is in process at this very moment (e.g., Right now, I am writing about ESL verb tenses and verb tense lesson plans. You are reading this page.).
We also use the Present Progressive (or Present Continuous) to talk about things that are happening "these days" or at this time in our lives or in history. For example:
Q: So, what are you doing these days?
A: I am teaching ESL to adults.
And the last function (an often ignored function of the Present Continuous, but very commonly used by native English speakers) is to talk about future plans. For example:
Q: What are you doing tonight?
A: I'm cooking dinner for some friends.
I've picked the easier Present Progressive to illustrate what must be taught for each of the ESL verb tenses. It becomes a little more complicated to teach the functions for something like the Present Perfect, but the basics are still the same. For each verb tense, verb tense lesson plans should include the following:
1. Conjugation
2. Forms
3. Function(s)
When a student learns these three elements of a verb, he or she will have mastered the main elements of all tenses on the verb tense list.

VERB TENSE CHART

Past	Present	Future
Simple Past	Simple Present	Future Simple
Past Progressive/ Past Continuous	Present Progressive/ Present Continuous	Future Progressive/ Future Continuous
Past Perfect	Present Perfect	Future Perfect
Past Perfect Continuous/ Past Perfect Progressive	Present Perfect Continuous/ Present Perfect Progressive	Future Perfect Continuous/ Future Perfect Progressive

Irregular Verbs List

Here's an irregular verbs list for ESL teachers and English Language Learners.

BASE FORM/SIMPLE FORM	SIMPLE PAST TENSE	PAST PARTICIPLE OF VERBS
List of Irregular Verbs (a to c)
arise	arose	arisen
be	was/were	been
bear	bore	borne/born
beat	beat	beaten/beat
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet	bet
bid	bid	bid
bind	bound	bound
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
build	built	built
burn	burned/burnt	burned/burnt
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
cast	cast	cast
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
cling	clung	clung
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
Irregular Verbs List (d to f)
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
dive	dive/dove	dived
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed/dreamt	dreamed/dreamt
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fit	fit/fitted	fit/fitted
flee	fled	fled
fling	flung	flung
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
forecast	forecast	forecast
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
forgo	forwent	forgone
forsake	forsook	forsaken
freeze	froze	frozen
Irregular Verbs List (g to l)
get	got	gotten/got
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grind	ground	ground
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
kneel	kneeled/knelt	kneeled/knelt
knit	knitted/knit	knitted/knit
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
lean	leaned/leant	leaned/leant
leap	leaped/leapt	leaped/leapt
learn	learned/learnt	learned/learnt
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
light	lit	lit
lose	lost	lost
Irregular Verbs List (m to s)
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
mishear	misheard	misheard
mislay	mislaid	mislaid
mislead	misled	misled
misspeak	misspoke	misspoken
mistook	mistake	mistaken
misunderstand	misunderstood	misunderstood
mow	mowed	mown
offset	offset	offset
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
rebuild	rebuilt	rebuilt
redo	redid	redone
remake	remade	remade
repay	repaid	repaid
reread	reread	reread
retell	retold	retold
rethink	rethought	rethought
rewrite	rewrote	rewritten
rid	rid	rid
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
sew	sewed	sewn/sewed
shake	shook	shaken
shed	shed	shed
shine	shone/shined	shone/shined
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown/showed
shred	shredded/shred	shredded/shred
shrink	shrank/shrunk	shrunk
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
sling	slung	slung
slink	slunk/slinked	slunk/slinked
slit	slit	slit
smell	smelled/smelt	smelled/smelt
sneak	sneaked/snuck	sneaked/snuck
speak	spoke	spoken
speed	sped/speeded	sped/speeded
spell	spelled/spelt	spelled/spelt
spend	spent	spent
spill	spilled/spilt	spilled/spilt
spin	spun	spun
spit	spit/spat	spit/spat
split	split	split
spoil	spoiled/spoilt	spoiled/spoilt
spread	spread	spread
spring	sprang/sprung	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
stink	stank/stunk	stunk
stride	strode	stridden
strike	struck	struck/stricken
string	strung	strung
strive	strove/strived	striven/strived
swear	swore	sworn
sweat	sweat/sweated	sweat/sweated
sweep	swept	swept
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
Irregular Verbs List (t to w)
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
thrust	thrust	thrust
tread	trod/treaded	trodden/trod
typecast	typecast	typecast
unbend	unbent	unbent
undergo	underwent	undergone
underlie	underlay	underlain
undersell	undersold	undersold
understand	understood	understood
undertake	undertook	undertaken
undo	undid	undone
unwind	unwound	unwound
upset	upset	upset
wake	woke/waked	woken/waked
wear	wore	worn
weave	wove/weaved	woven/weaved
wed	wed/wedded	wed/wedded
weep	wept	wept
wet	wet	wet
win	won	won
wind	wound	wound
withdraw	withdrew	withdrawn
withhold	withheld	withheld
withstand	withstood	withstood
wring	wrung	wrung
write	wrote	written

Past Continuous Verbs (Verb Tense Conjugation, Forms, and Functions)

The best ESL teaching ideas for Past Continuous verbs (also called Past Progressive verbs) must include three things. These three things are essential to teaching verb tenses to students learning English as a second language or English as a foreign language:
(1) Verb conjugation,
(2) Verb form, and
(3) Verb function.


The Past Continuous tense is appropriate for teaching beginning ESL students. Intermediate students may also benefit from teaching ideas for past continuous verbs, and I find that my advanced ESL students also often need a review of the functions of this tense.
However, before a grammar lesson on conjugating Past Continuous verbs, ESL students should be taught how to conjugate the irregular verb "to be" in the past tense. The verb "to be" is the essential helping verb (or auxiliary verb) used to form the Past Continuous.

Forming the Past Continuous/Past Progressive
The Past Continuous is formed by combining the past tense of the helping verb "to be" (was or were) with the "-ing" (or the Present Participle) form of the main verb.
It looks like this:
subject + was/were + -ing
For example, "She was eating breakfast" ("eat" is the main verb and "was" is the helping verb). The Present Participle of the main verb will always be the same, no matter who or what the subject is. It's the helping verb in Past Continuous conjugation that will change according to the subject. The helping verb will be either "was" or "were."

Past Continuous Verb Conjugation (using miscellaneous common verbs, for example)
Here are some examples of conjugated Past Continuous verbs.
1. I was talking. I was walking. I was dancing. I was thinking.
2. You were talking. You were walking. You were dancing. You were thinking.
3. She/He/It was talking. She/He/It was walking. She/He/It was dancing. She/He/It was thinking.
4. They were talking. They were walking. They were dancing. They were thinking.
5. We were talking. We were walking. We were dancing. We were thinking.

Past Continuous Verb Forms (five forms the ESL student must learn)
1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She was drinking.)
2. Negative Usage (e.g., She wasn't drinking.)
3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Was she drinking?)
4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she was. No, she wasn't.)
5. WH- Questions (e.g., When was she drinking?)

Past Continuous Functions (when to use the Past Continuous)
The Past Continuous/Past Progressive verb tense has two functions.

Function #1: To express an activity that was in progress at a particular time in the past or when another action happened that interrupted the first activity.
Teaching ideas for past continuous Function #1 should include giving examples of this function. Here are some examples.
Example 1: Mary was writing about the past progressive verb tense when the phone rang. In this example, Mary started writing and then the phone rang and interrupted her writing action. She may or may not have continued writing after the phone rang. We don't know from this sentence.
Example 2: Last night at eleven o'clock, the teacher was still preparing his ESL lesson. In this example, the teacher started preparing his ESL lesson before eleven o'clock and was still preparing it at eleven o'clock.

Function #2: To talk about two activities that were in progress simultaneously in the past.
Of course, teaching ideas for past continuous Function #2 must also include some examples.
Example 1: Jane was cooking dinner while her roommate was setting the table.
Example 2: The baby was crying when we were trying to sleep.
You may notice that "when" is useful for both functions of the Past Continuous/Past Progressive. "While" is commonly used for the second function of this verb tense. How to use these two functions should be discussed in any teaching ideas for past continuous verbs.

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Source:
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Forming Simple Past Tense Verbs

Forming Simple Past tense verbs is actually quite easy for regular English verbs. However, as with teaching all verb tenses, conjugation is only the beginning of the lesson.There is essentially only one rule to follow to conjugate a regular past tense verb. Irregular Simple Past tense verbs are a bit trickier. There is no one general rule for irregulars and the student learning English as a second language or a foreign language must simply memorize irregular verbs.
As with all verb tenses, three things are essential to teach students learning English:
(1) Verb conjugation,
(2) Verb form, and
(3) Verb function.

Simple Past Verb Conjugation (using miscellaneous common verbs, for example)
Forming Simple Past tense verbs in the affirmative is pretty easy. There is only one form of the verb no matter what the subject is. Regular Simple Past tense verbs are formed by adding "-ed" to the end of the base form of the verb (e.g., walked, dressed, called, enjoyed, etc.). For verbs that already end with an "e," just add a "d" (e.g., cared, raced, decided, invited, etc.).
Here are some examples of conjugated Past Tense verbs:
1. I talked. I walked. I danced. I cared.
2. You talked. You walked. You danced. You cared.
3. She/He/It talked. She/He/It walked. She/He/It danced. She/He/It cared.
4. They talked. They walked. They danced. They cared.
5. We talked. We walked. We danced. We cared.

Simple Past Verb Forms (five ways of forming Simple Past tense verbs the ESL student must learn)
1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She talked.)
2. Negative Usage (e.g., She didn’t talk.)
3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Did she talk?)
4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she did. No, she didn’t.)
5. WH- Questions (e.g., When did she talk?)
The tricky thing for ESL students conjugating the Simple Past is remembering to use the correct "helping" or "auxiliary" verb "to do" when conjugating Simple Past tense verbs in the negative and when forming questions (yes/no questions and wh- questions).

Simple Past Function (when to use this tense)
The Simple Past verb tense has one primary function: to express an activity or situation that started in the past and ended in the past at a particular time. Here are some examples:
I finished my homework last night.
I traveled to Spain in 1985.
I got up at seven this morning.

Special Thanks to:
Source:
www.teaching-esl-to-adults.com

Eight Parts of Speech

• Verb: Expresses actions, events or states of being. For example, in the sentence 'Billy throws the ball,' 'throws' is the verb.
• Adverb: Modifies a verb, adjective, phrase, clause or another adverb. Adverbs can be found in various parts of a sentence but usually ends with '-ly.' For example, in the sentence 'Billy quickly throws the ball,' 'quickly' is the adverb.
• Noun: Used to name an abstract idea, animal, person, place or thing. Sentences typically contain more than one noun. For example, in the sentence 'Billy met his friends at the zoo,' the words 'Billy,' 'friends' and 'zoo' are all nouns.
• Pronoun: A word that replaces a noun to prevent repetition of the same words. For example, in the sentence 'He was glad they enjoyed looking at exotic animals,' the words 'he' and 'they' are pronouns replacing the nouns 'Billy' and 'friends.'
• Adjective: Describes or quantifies a noun or pronoun. Adjectives usually precede the word they are modifying. For example, in the sentence 'Billy washed his aqua shirt at the laundromat,' the word 'aqua' is an adjective that modifies 'shirt.'
• Preposition: Acts as a link between nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. For example, in the sentence 'Billy washed his aqua shirt at the laundromat,' the word 'at' is the preposition.
• Conjunction: Also serve as a link between words or phrases. Sometimes conjunctions also act as prepositions or adverbs. For example, in the sentence 'Billy swims at the pool but not at the lake,' the word 'but' is the conjunction.
• Interjection: Conveys emotion in a sentence. For example, in the sentence 'Ouch, I stubbed my toe,' 'ouch' is the interjection.