Time Travelers of Grammar: Stories Behind Frequently Made Tense Mistakes

June 19, 2025 Post a Comment

She was telling a story about her childhood—smiling, laughing, lost in memories.

“I was growing up in a small village, and every morning I am walking to school with my brother,” she said.

The room was silent. Not because people weren’t listening, but because they were trying to figure out when it all happened.

Have you ever felt that?

You’re speaking English. You know the words. You know the meaning.
But suddenly—your tenses betray you.

Instead of sounding fluent, your sentences feel like they’ve been pulled from different time zones. Like a time machine stuck in reverse and fast-forward at the same time.

If you’ve made mistakes in tenses, you’re not alone.
In fact, tense confusion is one of the most frequently made grammar mistakes—by learners, travelers, writers, even native speakers.

Let’s dive into some real and relatable stories to explore these common mistakes, and how you can avoid them.

1. Past Meets Present: “I was living there since 2020.”

This was Leo’s big moment. A visa interview that would decide whether he’d get to work abroad. When asked how long he had been in his current job, he said proudly:

“I was living there since 2020.”

Uh-oh.

Let’s pause.

The mistake? He mixed past continuous (was living) with a time expression that requires present perfect (since 2020).

The fix?
If something started in the past and continues now, we need:

✅ “I have been living there since 2020.”

That small change shows that he’s still there—it makes the sentence clear, current, and confident.

2. Simple Past vs. Present Perfect: “I have seen that movie yesterday.”

Nina was at a dinner party, trying to join a lively conversation about films.

“I have seen that movie yesterday!” she said.

Some people nodded, others looked confused. Why? Because “yesterday” is a completed time. And the present perfect tense isn’t used with completed past moments.

She should have said:

✅ “I saw that movie yesterday.”

Let’s break it down:

Use simple past for when you say when something happened (yesterday, last year, in 2005).
Use present perfect when when it happened isn't important or is still connected to now:
- ✅ “I have seen that movie before.”

It’s a small detail that can make your English feel either fluent—or fuzzy.

3. The Future That Never Came: “I will go if I will have time.”

Now meet Arif. A smart, funny guy with a big heart—but grammar wasn’t his strength.

He was making plans with a friend and said:

“I will go if I will have time.”

Sounds okay? It’s not.

In English, we don’t usually use “will” in both parts of an if-sentence.

❌ “I will go if I will have time.”
✅ “I will go if I have time.”

Why? Because in conditional sentences, the present tense is used in the if clause—even when we’re talking about the future. Weird, right?

But once you get it, it clicks like a puzzle piece.

4. The Missing Past Perfect: “She left after he called her.”

This one’s subtle. And it happens to a lot of people—even in professional writing.

Let’s say Sarah is describing a situation:

“She left after he called her.”

Okay… but wait. When exactly did he call? Before or after she left?

To be clear, she needs past perfect for the action that happened first:

✅ “She left after he had called her.”

It’s all about showing sequence. The past perfect lets your listener travel back in time with clarity.

Without it, things feel… mixed up.

5. Present Continuous in the Wrong Places: “I am knowing the answer.”

Back in a classroom, Raj was excited. The teacher asked a question and he confidently shouted:

“I am knowing the answer!”

It made the class giggle—not because they were mean, but because it sounded strange.

The verb “know” is a stative verb—it describes a state, not an action. And stative verbs usually don’t work well with continuous tenses.

So the correct form?

✅ “I know the answer.”

Some other stative verbs to watch out for: love, believe, understand, hate, want, need.

You don’t "understand something" right now in action. You either understand it—or you don’t.

Why This All Matters

Tense isn’t just about verbs—it’s about time, meaning, and connection.

When you use the wrong tense, you don’t just make a grammar mistake—you change the entire timeline of your message.

Imagine telling someone you “were loving” them… when you meant you still do.

Or saying you “have finished” a report… when it’s still sitting on your desktop half-written.

Tenses are like the signs on a highway—they tell your listener where you’re going, where you’ve been, and how fast you’re moving.

Final Words: From Mistakes to Mastery

So, what happened to Emily?

She kept practicing.

She rewrote her childhood story with the right tenses. She asked questions. She laughed at her old recordings. And over time, her storytelling became smoother, more natural.

You’ll get there too.

Grammar isn’t about being perfect.
It’s about being understood.
And with every mistake you catch, you’re one step closer to mastering the music of English.

Now tell me—have you ever made one of these mistakes?
Or maybe… you just realized you’ve been making one all along?

That’s okay. That’s how growth begins.
And I’ll be right here, ready with the next chapter when you are.

SIRHARI