The Ultimate Guide to the English Tenses: An Illustrated Timeline
I am super excited to be able to post this timeline on my blog. I worked very hard on it together with the wonderful Aylin Durmaz who I have to thank for putting my vision into images. Her talent and creativity brought this project to life. For many years, I had been thinking about making my dream come true by creating a timeline with English tenses that would not only be helpful in terms of systematically breaking down the grammar for my clients and students but would also be beautiful, funny, relatable, and cute - according to science all elements making it easier for learners to memorize and retain complex concepts. Now, my hope is that you will not only fall in love with English tenses (and my timeline), but that you will also fall in love with English (unless you are already in love with English). I love English, and I love finding ways to help you share that love. Teaching English and U.S. culture is one of my greatest pleasures.
Some tips when reviewing the timeline:
1) Pay attention to the different levels, especially the third level with the Perfect tenses.
2) Take note of how the background colors for the Past Perfect Simple, Past Perfect Progressive, Present Perfect Simple, Present Perfect Progressive, Future Perfect, and Future Perfect Progressive all combine two different colors to illustrate how each Perfect tense pair (Past/ Present/Future Perfect) links two different time periods.
3) Every English tense has a progressive form. You can play around with almost all the progressive forms to rhetorically underline that you are talking about a long activity. The big exceptions are the Present Progressive and the Present Perfect Progressive. The former is very different from the Simple Present and describes an activity that is happening now. The Present Perfect Progressive describes an activity that started in the past and is still ongoing in the present.
4) Please remember that there are verbs that we can only use in the simple form like "to know, to understand, to believe" so don't be alarmed when you are thinking: "But “I have known” is an ongoing activity, and it is not the progressive form?!!!?" Don't be alarmed. That's why: "To know" is a state verb, a verb that cannot be used in the -ing form..There are also verbs where the meaning changes depending on whether we use them in the simple or progressive form. For example: To taste, to sound, to smell, to touch, to feel (these verbs describe states like flavor, and appearance when used in the simple form). While “this tastes good” describes the flavor of something, "I am tasting the soup" means “I am trying the soup”. As always the progressive form emphasizes activity here.