A little something to make English Tense construction easier

1. The Tenses
English Tenses.
English has 3 major tenses :
●
Past
●
Present
●
Future
Each of these is split into 4 parts :
●
Simple
●
Continuous
●
Perfect Simple
●
Perfect Continuous
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2. The Tenses
Past Present Future
Simple I ride my bike.
(I do ride my bike.)
Continuous
Perfect Simple
Perfect Continuous
Take an easy sentence – represented in present simple.
“I ride my bike.”
(I have included the auxiliary form as well)
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3. The Tenses
Past Present Future
Simple I rode my bike. I ride my bike.
(I did ride my bike.) (I do ride my bike.)
Continuous
Perfect Simple
Perfect Continuous
We change the sentence into the past by changing the auxiliary.
Do → Did
In the case of simple past we usually have a past simple version of the word, so use
that instead of the auxiliary.
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4. The Tenses
Past Present Future
Simple I rode my bike. I ride my bike. I will ride my bike.
(I did ride my bike.) (I do ride my bike.) I am going to ride
my bike.
Continuous
Perfect Simple
Perfect Continuous
We change the sentence into the future again by changing the auxiliary.
Do → Will
Or
Do → Be going to.
(There are no future word forms so we must use an auxiliary)
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5. The Tenses
Past Present Future
Simple I rode my bike. I ride my bike. I will ride my bike.
(I did ride my bike.) (I do ride my bike.) I am going to ride
my bike.
Continuous
Perfect Simple
Perfect Continuous
Summary #1 –
We can move from the present to the past or the future just by changing the auxiliary.
Did ← → Do ← → Will (going to)
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6. The Tenses
Past Present Future
Simple I rode my bike. I ride my bike. I will ride my bike.
(I did ride my bike.) (I do ride my bike.)
Continuous I am riding my bike.
Perfect Simple
Perfect Continuous
We change the sentence into the continuous by changing the verb to “be verb +ing”.
Do → Am verb+ing
When using any form of continuous the verb always ends with -ing.
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7. The Tenses
Past Present Future
Simple I rode my bike. I ride my bike. I will ride my bike.
(I did ride my bike.) (I do ride my bike.)
Continuous I was riding my bike. I am riding my bike. I will be riding my
bike.
Perfect Simple
Perfect Continuous
Using the same concept in summary #1 we can now construct the past and future by
altering the auxiliary.
Was ← am (be)) → Will be (am going to be)
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8. The Tenses
Past Present Future
Simple I rode my bike. I ride my bike. I will ride my bike.
(I did ride my bike.) (I do ride my bike.)
Continuous I was riding my bike. I am riding my bike. I will be riding my
bike.
Perfect Simple
Perfect Continuous
Summary #2
To go from Simple to continuous involves changing the verb to “be + -ing” and applying
the same auxiliary rules as before.
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9. The Tenses
Past Present Future
Simple I rode my bike. I ride my bike. I will ride my bike.
(I did ride my bike.) (I do ride my bike.)
Continuous I was riding my bike. I am riding my bike. I will be riding my
bike.
Perfect Simple I have ridden my
bike.
Perfect Continuous
To use a perfect tense we MUST include “have” as the auxiliary, and use the
appropriate participle (past participle in this case)
Do → Have
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10. The Tenses
Past Present Future
Simple I rode my bike. I ride my bike. I will ride my bike.
(I did ride my bike.) (I do ride my bike.)
Continuous I was riding my bike. I am riding my bike. I will be riding my
bike.
Perfect Simple I had ridden my I have ridden my I will have ridden my
bike. bike. bike.
Perfect Continuous
Again applying the same rule as in summary #1 we just change the auxiliary to move
from present to past or future.
Had ← → Have ← → Will have
(Note we use the participle form of the verb at all times)
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11. The Tenses
Past Present Future
Simple I rode my bike. I ride my bike. I will ride my bike.
(I did ride my bike.) (I do ride my bike.)
Continuous I was riding my bike. I am riding my bike. I will be riding my
bike.
Perfect Simple I had ridden my I have ridden my I will have ridden my
bike. bike. bike.
Perfect Continuous
Summary #3
Whenever you use a perfect tense you must :
● have a form of the auxiliary “have”,
● Use a participle of the verb.
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12. The Tenses
Past Present Future
Simple I rode my bike. I ride my bike. I will ride my bike.
(I did ride my bike.) (I do ride my bike.)
Continuous I was riding my bike. I am riding my bike. I will be riding my
bike.
Perfect Simple I had ridden my I have ridden my I will have ridden my
bike. bike. bike.
Perfect Continuous I have been riding
my bike.
Summary #2 says :
To form the continuous we have to : Change the verb to “be verb+ing”
Summary #3 says:
We also MUST add a “have” as the tense is perfect.
We also need the participle of the verb (be) → been
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13. The Tenses
Past Present Future
Simple I rode my bike. I ride my bike. I will ride my bike.
(I did ride my bike.) (I do ride my bike.)
Continuous I was riding my bike. I am riding my bike. I will be riding my
bike.
Perfect Simple I had ridden my I have ridden my I will have ridden my
bike. bike. bike.
Perfect Continuous I had been riding my I have been riding I will have been
bike. my bike. riding my bike.
Again going from the present to the past/future involves changing the auxiliary.
Had ← → Have ← → Will have
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14. The Tenses
Past Present Future
Simple I rode my bike. I ride my bike. I will ride my bike.
(I did ride my bike.) (I do ride my bike.)
Continuous I was riding my bike. I am riding my bike. I will be riding my
bike.
Perfect Simple I had ridden my I have ridden my I will have ridden my
bike. bike. bike.
Perfect Continuous I had been riding my I have been riding I will have been
bike. my bike. riding my bike.
Summary #1
● To travel in time we change the auxiliary.
Summary #2
● All continuous forms require “be verb+ing”
Summary #3
● Whenever we use a perfect tense we require “Have” + a participle of the verb.
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15. The Tenses
Past Present Future
Simple I rode my bike. I ride my bike. I will ride my bike.
(I did ride my bike.) (I do ride my bike.)
Continuous I was riding my bike. I am riding my bike. I will be riding my
bike.
Perfect Simple I had ridden my I have ridden my I will have ridden my
bike. bike. bike.
Perfect Continuous I had been riding my I have been riding I will have been
bike. my bike. riding my bike.
Conclusion.
You can happily go from :
● “I ride my bike to work every day”
● to
● “By the end of the year I will have been riding my bike for a year”
Just by using a set of logical steps.
Now, when you use them is a different subject I will cover later.
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