Simple Past

V/XD

Present Perfect Progressive

have/has been VING

Present Perfect

have/has + Vd-t-n

Simple Present

V/XO, V/XS

Present Progressive

Future

will Vb, BE going to Vb

wrote

have/has been writing

have/has written

write

writes

am, are, is writing

will write

am, is, are + going to write

am, is, are + writing

yesterday

last          

night

week

month

weekend

the last time

the first time

____        ago

a day

two weeks

etc.

earlier         

today

this week

etc.

in ______

the past, 1776

on _____

Monday,

July 4, 1776

at _____

5 am,

midnight

night

all      _   long

day

morning

week

for the last/past _____

two days

three hours

etc.

since          

3 o’clock

yesterday

the 90s

etc.

for            

two days

three hours, etc.

all ______

afternoon, day, my life

so far

Questions

How long has S been Ving?

      ___    times

many

a couple of

several

in the last/past ______

week, month, year, etc.

since           

3 o’clock

yesterday

the 90s

etc.

for            

two days

three hours, etc.

all ______

afternoon, day, my life

up to now

so far

lately

Middle Words

just, already, recently

Negatives

hasn’t dtn in a long time, yet

haven’t ever dtn

still hasn’t dtn

Questions

how long has S dtn…?

has S ever/already dtn …?

every (other)           

day

Monday

week

etc.

twice a _____

two times _____

a few times ____

a day

a week

a year

in _____

the morning

on            

Mondays, weekends, etc.

at _____

5am

midnight

night

from 9 to 5

*always

all the time

usually

normally

generally

often

sometimes

rarely

never

(right) now

at the moment

currently

temporarily

this            

week

semester

month

etc.

today

tomorrow

tonight

next           

week

month

year

etc.

the next time

in ­            

a few days

ten minutes

a month

etc.

Past Perfect had+ d-t-n

Used with by the time or when shifters to express two activities in the past, one occurring before the other. First activity: past perfect/second activity : simple past

By the time/When we arrived,  he had already left.

PAST PROGRESSIVE was/were + Ving

Used with when shifters to express past activity in progress, interrupted by a non-continuous activity: I was writing when you called.

Used with while shifters to express two continuous activities occurring

at the same time in past I was reading while you were writing.