How Questions- Tense Review

How Questions- Tense Review

Spend five minutes chatting with your partner about the present, past and future, starting
with personal questions with “How…?” like those below.

Fill the questions below with the verbs and subjects in brackets () in the right tenses in the
gaps. Your teacher will tell you which version below you should use (mixed and/ or
arranged by tense).

Mixed version
How __________________________________________ (your son get on) at university?
How ___________________________________________(the weather be) outside now?
How ____________________________________________ (the party be) last night?
How ____________________________________________ (the traffic be) this morning?
How _____________________________________________ (you be) since we last met?
How ______________________________________________ (your summer holiday be)?
How ______________________________________________ (your trip be) to New York?
How ________________________________________________ (your week be) so far?
How _________________________________________________ (your day be) so far?
How _________________________________________________ (your visit be) so far?
How __________________________________________________ (your weekend be)?
How ___________________________________________________ (your vacation be)?
How _____________________________________________________ (business be)?
How _____________________________________________________ (it go)?
How _____________________________________________________ (life be)?
How _____________________________________________________ (life treat) you?
How _____________________________________________________ (you be)?
How _____________________________________________________ (you do)?
How _____________________________________________________ (your journey be)?
How _____________________________________________________ (your lunch be)?
How _____________________________________________________ (your project go)?
How ______________________________________________________ (your flight be)?
Long time no see. How ____________________________________________ (you be)?
You said that you were going to… How __________________________________ (it go)?

Use the ones in sections on the page below to help.

p. 1

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2019

300 pages of other social English materials:

https://www.usingenglish.com/e-books/social-english/

Arranged by tense version
How _____________________________________________________ (you be)?
How _____________________________________________________ (life be)?
How _____________________________________________________ (business be)?
How ___________________________________________(the weather be) outside now?
How _____________________________________________________ (it go)?
How _____________________________________________________ (you do)?
How _____________________________________________________ (your project go)?
How __________________________________________ (your son get on) at university?
How _____________________________________________________ (life treat) you?
How ______________________________________________________ (your flight be)?
How __________________________________________________ (your weekend be)?
How ______________________________________________ (your summer holiday be)?
How ___________________________________________________ (your vacation be)?
How _____________________________________________________ (your journey be)?
How ______________________________________________ (your trip be) to New York?
You said that you were going to… How __________________________________ (it go)?
How ____________________________________________ (the party be) last night?
How _____________________________________________________ (your lunch be)?
How ____________________________________________ (the traffic be) this morning?
How _________________________________________________ (your day be) so far?
How ________________________________________________ (your week be) so far?
How _________________________________________________ (your visit be) so far?
How _____________________________________________ (you be) since we last met?
Long time no see. How ____________________________________________ (you be)?

Hint 1: Similar questions are grouped together above, so you just need to find out where
the tense changes.

Hint 2: The ones where the tense changes are:
How _____________________________________________________ (it go)?
How ______________________________________________________ (your flight be)?
How _________________________________________________ (your day be) so far?

Check your answers with the answer key and/ or as a class.

p. 2

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2019

300 pages of other social English materials:

https://www.usingenglish.com/e-books/social-english/

Suggested answers

Present Simple small talk questions
 How are you?
 How’s life?
 How’s business?
 How’s the weather outside now?

Present Continuous small talk questions
 How’s it going?
 How are you doing?
 How’s your project going?
 How’s your son getting on at university?
 How’s life treating you?

Past Simple small talk questions
 How was your weekend?
 How was your summer holiday?
 How was your vacation?
 How was your journey?
 How was your trip to New York?
 You said that you were going to… How did it go?
 How was the party last night?
 How was your lunch?
 How was the traffic this morning?

Present Perfect small talk questions
 How has your day been so far?
 How has your week been so far?
 How has your visit been so far?
 How have you been since we last met?
 Long time no see. How have you been?

Ask about any questions which you don’t understand or don’t know how to answer.

Change partners and have similar small talk conversations, this time with no help.

p. 3

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2019

300 pages of other social English materials:

https://www.usingenglish.com/e-books/social-english/