Oratrics Navbar

Tenses Exercise for Class 9 (CBSE 2026-27): 60 Questions with Answers & Tips

If you want to score well in English grammar, a good tenses exercise for class 9 is the best place to start. Tenses show up in gap filling, editing, reordering and writing tasks, so one weak area can cost you marks in many places. This article gives you a short revision of all tenses, 60 exam-style questions in six sets, a full answer key, and practical tips from classroom teaching.

Work through the sets one by one, check your answers at the end, and note the mistakes you repeat.

Book a Free Demo Today
Tenses exercise for class 9 with a student practicing English grammar exercises at a study desk.
☰ Table of Contents

    Why Tenses Matter in Class 9

    A tense tells us when an action happens: in the past, present or future. It also tells us whether the action is simple, ongoing, finished or has been going on for some time.

    In Class 9, grammar is tested through fill-in-the-blanks, error correction (editing) and sentence transformation. Your writing tasks, like letters, articles and stories, also need correct tenses. Teachers who prepare students for school exams, IELTS and TOEFL see the same pattern: students who build a firm base in tenses early find later grammar much easier. Always check the latest CBSE syllabus and sample papers for the exact format.

    Quick Revision: The 12 Tenses at a Glance

    Tense

    Structure

    Example

    Simple Present

    V1 (+s/es)

    She reads daily.

    Present Continuous

    is/am/are + V-ing

    She is reading now.

    Present Perfect

    has/have + V3

    She has read the book.

    Present Perfect Continuous

    has/have been + V-ing

    She has been reading for an hour.

    Simple Past

    V2

    She read the book.

    Past Continuous

    was/were + V-ing

    She was reading when I called.

    Past Perfect

    had + V3

    She had read it before I came.

    Past Perfect Continuous

    had been + V-ing

    She had been reading for an hour.

    Simple Future

    will + V1

    She will read tomorrow.

    Future Continuous

    will be + V-ing

    She will be reading at 8 p.m.

    Future Perfect

    will have + V3

    She will have read it by Friday.

    Future Perfect Continuous

    will have been + V-ing

    She will have been reading for two hours by then.

    Signal words that help:

    • Always, usually, every day → simple present
    • Now, at the moment, look! → present continuous
    • Already, just, yet, ever, never → present perfect
    • Since, for (with time) → perfect continuous
    • Yesterday, last week, ago → simple past
    • By the time, before, after → past perfect or future perfect

    Tenses Practice Exercises for Class 9: 60 Questions

    Instructions: Fill in each blank with the correct form of the verb in brackets. Sets 1 to 5 each cover one group of tenses, and Set 6 is mixed.

    Set 1: Simple Present and Present Continuous

    1. The sun ______ (rise) in the east.
    2. Look! The children ______ (play) in the garden.
    3. My sister ______ (go) to school by bus every day.
    4. Be quiet. The baby ______ (sleep).
    5. Water ______ (boil) at 100°C.
    6. I ______ (read) a novel these days.
    7. She ______ (not like) spicy food.
    8. ______ he ______ (play) cricket every Sunday?
    9. They ______ (watch) a match right now.
    10. Rahul usually ______ (walk) to the park, but today he ______ (take) a taxi.

    Set 2: Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous

    1. I have just ______ (finished) my homework. (Write the correct form of the verb.)
    2. She ______ (live) in Jaipur since 2019.
    3. They ______ (wait) for the bus for an hour.
    4. We ______ (not see) that film yet.
    5. ______ you ever ______ (visit) the Taj Mahal?
    6. It ______ (rain) since this morning.
    7. He ______ (loses) his keys, so he cannot open the door.
    8. The teacher ______ (explain) this lesson for thirty minutes.
    9. My brother ______ already ______ (leave) for school.
    10. How long ______ you ______ (learn) English?

    Set 3: Simple Past and Past Continuous

    1. We ______ (visit) our grandparents last summer.
    2. I ______ (watch) TV when the phone rang.
    3. She ______ (not attending) the class yesterday.
    4. What ______ you ______ (do) at 8 p.m. last night?
    5. Ravi ______ (break) the window while he ______ (play) cricket.
    6. The students ______ (write) the test when the bell rang.
    7. Gandhiji ______ (be) born in 1869.
    8. ______ she ______ (called) you yesterday?
    9. It ______ (rain) heavily, so we stayed indoors.
    10. He ______ (open) the door and ______ (walk) in.

    Set 4: Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous

    1. The train ______ (leave) before we reached the station.
    2. She ______ (cook) for two hours when the guests arrived.
    3. I ______ (not finish) my project when the teacher asked for it.
    4. After he ______ (eats) dinner, he goes to bed.
    5. They ______ (play) for an hour before it started raining.
    6. ______ you ______ (complete) the exercise before the bell rang?
    7. The boy was tired because he ______ (ran) for a long time.
    8. The thief ______ (ran) away before the police arrived.
    9. She told me that she ______ (visit) Shimla earlier.
    10. We ______ (waited) for two hours when the bus finally came.

    Set 5: Future Tenses

    1. I ______ (call) you tomorrow.
    2. Look at those clouds! It ______ (rain).
    3. This time next week, we ______ (travel) to Goa.
    4. By next June, she ______ (complete) her course.
    5. The train ______ (leave) at 6 a.m. tomorrow. (timetable)
    6. Don’t worry. I ______ (help) you with the sums.
    7. By 2030, he ______ (work) here for ten years.
    8. ______ you ______ (come) to my birthday party next Sunday?
    9. At 10 a.m. tomorrow, the students ______ (sit) the exam.
    10. She will return the book when she ______ (finishes) reading it.

    Set 6: Mixed Practice and Error Correction

    1. Choose the correct option: She (go / goes / going) to tuition daily.
    2. Correct the error: He has completed his work.
    3. Correct the error: I am knowing the answer.
    4. Choose the correct option: I (didn’t saw / didn’t see) him at the market.
    5. Correct the error: She has been living in Pune since 2018.
    6. Choose the correct option: If it rains tomorrow, we (will cancel / would cancel / cancelled) the picnic.
    7. Correct the error: They have gone to the market.
    8. Fill in the blank: Our school ______ (celebrate) Annual Day every December.
    9. Correct the error: I will call you when I will reach home.
    10. Fill in the blank: The teacher said that the earth ______ (move) around the sun.

    Answer Key with Short Explanations

    Set 1

    1. rises (universal fact)
    2. are playing (happening now, “Look!”)
    3. goes (daily habit, third person singular)
    4. is sleeping (action in progress)
    5. boils (scientific fact)
    6. am reading (temporary action, “these days”)
    7. does not like
    8. Does, play
    9. are watching (“right now”)
    10. walks, is taking (habit vs. today’s change)

    Set 2
     11. finished (have just finished)
     12. has lived (has been living is also correct)
     13. have been waiting
     14. have not seen (“yet”)
     15. Have, visited (“ever”)
     16. has been raining (“since”)
     17. has lost (present result)
     18. has been explaining
     19. has, left (“already”)
     20. have, been learning (“how long”)

    Set 3
     21. visited
     22. was watching
     23. did not attend
     24. were, doing
     25. broke, was playing
     26. were writing
     27. was (a past fact)
     28. Did, call
     29. was raining
     30. opened, walked

    Set 4
     31. had left
     32. had been cooking
     33. had not finished
     34. had eaten
     35. had been playing
     36. Had, completed
     37. had been running
     38. had run
     39. had visited
     40. had been waiting

    Set 5
     41. will call
     42. is going to rain (prediction from evidence)
     43. will be travelling
     44. will have completed
     45. leaves (fixed timetable)
     46. will help (a promise made now)
     47. will have been working
     48. Will, come
     49. will be sitting
     50. finishes (no future tense after “when” in a time clause)

    Set 6
     51. goes
     52. He has completed his work.
     53. I know the answer. (Verbs like know are not used in continuous form.)
     54. didn’t see
     55. She has been living in Pune since 2018. (has lived is also correct)
     56. will cancel
     57. They have gone to the market.
     58. celebrates
     59. I will call you when I reach home.
     60. moves (a universal truth stays in simple present)

    Common Mistakes Class 9 Students Make

    • Using “since” and “for” incorrectly. Use since with a starting point (since 2019) and for with a period (for two hours).
    • Using continuous tenses with stative verbs. Words like know, like, love, want, believe usually take the simple form.
    • Mixing up the simple past and present perfectly. If a definite time is given (yesterday, in 2020), use the simple past, not the present perfect.
    • Using “will” in time clauses. After when, if, before, after, as soon as, use the present tense for future meaning.
    • Forgetting the third-person “s”. He should be gone.

    How to Use These Exercises for Best Results

    • Revise the rules first. Spend ten minutes on the table above.
    • Attempt one set at a time. Do not look at the answers while solving.
    • Mark and review your errors. Write down the rule behind every wrong answer.
    • Practise little and often. Twenty minutes daily works better than one long session a week.
    • Use more formats. A class 9 tenses worksheet with answers is great for self-checking, and 9th grade tense exercises online give instant feedback. If you prefer pen and paper, printable tenses practice for class 9 students can be solved offline. For revision before tests, exercises on present and past tenses for class 9 are a good place to focus first, since these are tested most often.

    Conclusion

    Tenses become easy once you understand the pattern behind each one and practise regularly. Use this tenses exercise for class 9 as part of your weekly revision, check every answer, and learn from each error. With steady practice, you will write and answer grammar questions with more confidence in the 2026-27 session.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    There are three main tenses (past, present, future), and each has four forms (simple, continuous, perfect, perfect continuous), giving 12 in total.

    All twelve are useful, but the simple, continuous and perfect forms of the present and past appear most often in exams and in writing.

    Learn the structure of each tense, memorise the signal words, and solve mixed questions regularly. Reading short stories and news articles also helps you notice tenses in real use.

    Fifteen to twenty minutes of focused practice is enough if you review your mistakes every time.

    Oratrics Footer
    Student studying

    Start Your Child's Learning Journey

    Join thousands of students excelling with our personalized educational development paths.

    Thank You! 🎉

    Your free demo has been booked! We will contact you within 24 hours to finalize your schedule.

    Book Your Free Demo

    Experience personalized learning tailored to your child's needs

    Scroll to Top