TENSE
Present Simple:
- Always,Usually,Sometimes,Never,Ever,Often….
- Every day, Every summer, Once a day…
- Most of the time, Most of the winter…
- Exact Time (when the tense refers to a future action)
Present Continuous:
- Look! Listen!
- Still
- At the moment, Now
- These days, Nowadays
- Tonight, Tomorrow
- This Saturday
- More and more …, Day by day..
Present perfect:
- Already, Yet, Just, For, Since, Ever, Never, So far, Up to now, Recently, Lately, Three times, Several Times, In recent years, Over the years, In the last few years
Present Perfect Continuous:
- All (morning,week..), Since, For
Past Simple:
- Yesterday, ……..ago, Last…., In 1970, in the 12th century, Previous night, The first time, In prehistoric times, In the past two years, originally
Past Perfect:
- Since this sentence cannot be used without past simple, we have to use before and after.
After + past perfect
Before + past simple
- Earlier
Past Continuous:
- Since this sentence cannot be used without past simple, we have to use when and after.
While, As + Past Continuous
When + Past Simple
Past Perfect Continuous:
- All
Will / To be going to:
- Next …, Tomorrow.
Future Continuos:
- At this time tomorrow, At this time next year
Future Perfect:
- By 2010, by Tuesday
Future Perfect Continuous:
- All
Methods:
- By the time + past simple + past perfect
- By the time + present simple + will, must, had better…
- By (time) + future perfect
- Will, Had better, To be going to… + When + Present simple
“ “ “ As soon as “
“ “ “ Until “
“ “ “ Before “
“ “ “ After “
“ “ “ Till “
- Any verb used in past simple + that + past perfect
- (With present usages) To be sure, To be certain, Know, Doubt, Expect Feel + Will
- (With past usages) To be sure, To be certain, Knew, Doubted, Felt, Expected + Would
- Present Simple, Present Continuous + Anymore
- If there is no clue in a sentence, look at the usage of definite article ‘the’. If those articles are used to emphasize that the words are defined, it means that the action took place in past. So, you can easily choose past tenses.
- If there is no clue and no definite article ‘the’ in a sentence, it shows you that the sentence is giving you a general information. In that case, you should choose present tenses.