Identify the form of tense: Tomorrow I am going to my old college.

Concept — A tense is named from the shape of its verb phrase — the auxiliary that carries the tense plus the form of the main verb that follows it. A time word in the sentence (today, tomorrow, yesterday) sits outside that shape, so it can change the meaning without changing the tense label. The four present-family shapes are:

• simple present: base form of the verb, with -s in the third person singular

• present continuous: a form of be + verb-ing

• present perfect: have or has + past participle

• present perfect continuous: have or has been + verb-ing

Applying it to this sentence

1. Pick out the verb phrase: “am going”.

2. Split it: “am” is a form of the verb be, and “going” is the -ing participle of the main verb go.

3. be + verb-ing is the present continuous shape, so the verb phrase is in the present continuous.

4. “Tomorrow” supplies future meaning, not a future form. English regularly uses the present continuous for a plan already fixed for a stated future time, as in “We are meeting at six tonight.”

Cross-check against the other shapes

Only the be + verb-ing shape produces “am going”, so the verb phrase in this sentence is in the present continuous — a present-tense form that is being used here to announce a plan fixed for tomorrow.