“English Verbs Explained” is a reference book for students of the English language who wish to understand the different tenses of verbs, how and when to use them, how to make verbs negative and how to form questions. It can be confusing, for example, to know when to use the present simple tense and when to use the present continuous, as languages such as French have only one form of the present tense. Distinctions also need to be made between the past simple and past continuous tenses, and the past simple and present perfect tenses. For each tense, there are examples in the affirmative and the negative as well as question forms.

In addition to covering all the main verb tenses, the book has sections on reported (indirect) speech, question tags, phrasal verbs, modal verbs and the sequence of tenses in conditional sentences. There is also a list of the most common verbs that are irregular in the past simple tense and the past participle.

The book ends with a series of test questions with answers at the end of each section.