Time word Time clause Main clause tense Examples

tense
Past Simple past (short While Anna was sleeping, a plane flew over her house.
progressive action)
Past While George was frying fish, Rita was peeling potatoes.
While progressive (action
at same time)
Present Future progressive While Anna is working tomorrow, her sister will be painting the living room.
progressive
Simple present Simple future Before Karen leaves for work, she will roller-skate around her house three times.
Before Simple past Simple past or past Before Karen left for work, she (had) roller-skated around her house three times.
perfect*
Simple present Simple future After Karen takes her motorcycle to the mechanic, he will take a look at it.
After Simple past or Simple past After Karen took [had taken] her motorcycle to the mechanic, she drove to work in
past perfect* a rented car.
Simple present Simple future When John finishes this semester, he will take a trip to France.
Simple past Simple past When the sun rose, John got up.
Past progressive When the pizza arrived, John was checking his e-mail.
When
Past perfect When John’s friend came to pick him up, he had already checked his answering
machine for messages.
Past perfect When John got home, his brother had been surfing the web for five hours.
progressive
Simple present Simple future Until Mary finishes her scuba-diving course, she won’t take the advanced diving
Until class.
Simple past Past perfect Until Mary lost $50,000 in Las Vegas, she hadn’t realized that she had a gambling problem.
Simple present Simple future As soon as I get home, I will take a nap.
As soon as
Simple past Simple past As soon as I got home, I took a nap.
Whenever Simple present Simple present Whenever Sam goes to Canada, he always visits Niagara Falls.
The first Simple past Simple past The first time that Ingrid visited New York, she went to the Empire State Building.
time
The last Simple past Simple past The last time that Nancy played hockey, she scored three goals.
time
The next Simple present Simple future The next time I buy new sneakers, I will walk around in them first.
time
By the Simple present Future perfect By the time the plane arrives, we will have completed the crossword puzzle.
time Simple past Past perfect By the time John finished his essay, most of the class had left.
Since Simple past Present perfect Tom has been unhappy since his team lost the championship.
(time)

Tense Time words Examples

Simple present Every day, month, week, year; always; sometimes; George jogs three miles every day.
never; frequently Mary always has salad for lunch.
I sometimes go to New York City.
Simple past Yesterday; # years, weeks, months, days, hours ago; in Tom went to Los Angeles yesterday.
(past year); last (month, week, year)
Charles Lindbergh flew to Paris in 1927.
Simple future Tomorrow; in (future year, month, week); on (future Mary will go to Hawaii in two weeks.
day); next (month, week, year, name of day); # days,
months, weeks, years from now; this month, week, Ed will drive to Toronto next Saturday.
afternoon, year; someday George will paint his house six days from now.
Present Progressive Now; right now; at this moment You are reading sentences about verb tenses right now.
Many students are taking calculus this semester.
Future progressive At this time tomorrow At this time tomorrow, I will be cleaning my house.
Present Perfect For; since; yet; never; always; so far; # times; many Sam has visited Hawaii many times.
times; lately; recently; already Paul has been here for six hours.
Yoko has known Mary since 1994.
I have already written a letter to the president.
Present perfect For; since; lately; recently Rita has been jogging for two hours.
progressive
 Tips and Tricks for Tenses & Rules:
Present Tenses:
[Link] PRESENT TENSE:
for habits and regular actions.
For example: I brush my teeth before I go to bed. for truths (facts that do not change):
For example: Ice melts when it is hot.
Here, the action is simply mentioned in general terms & the action that occurs frequently uses simple present tense
Keywords: Always, usually, normally, often, sometimes, rarely, seldom, never, on Sundays, always, every day, every
week, every month, every year, daily, weekly, annually etc.
Example: I eat. He studies grammar every day.

[Link] CONTINUOUS TENSE:

for actions happening at this moment. For ex.: You are reading this webpage.
Here, the action is still going on and hence the action is continuous.
Keywords: Right now, now, at this moment, presently, currently, today, this quarter, etc.
Example: Ankita is eating. Anjali is sleeping.

[Link] PERFECT TENSE: for actions that happened in a period that started in the past and have not yet finished.
For example: I have exercised twice this month. (This month has not finished)
for actions that happened at an unspecified time in the past (the speaker doesn't say yesterday, or last month).
In this case, the speaker is talking about their life experience.
For example: I have been to Japan. (Correct)
She has seen the movie. (Correct)
(Wrong -- yesterday is a specific time in the past that is finished).
Here, the action is complete or has ended.
The present perfect tense shows that something occurred or completed at some point in the past.
Keywords: Already, yet, just, never, since + a particular time, for + duration of time, once, twice, several times, lately,
recently
Example: I have eaten Indian food two times.

[Link] PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE: For actions that started in the past and continue until now.
For example: You have been reading this webpage for 2 minutes.
Here, the action has been taking place for some time and is still in continuity.
Keywords: for, since, lately , how long, all day
Example: I have been eating. I have been eating a lot of vegetables lately.

Past Tenses:
[Link] PAST TENSE: For actions that finished at a specific time in the past.
E.g: The company started in 2003.
Here, the action is simply referred and understood to have taken place in the past.
Keywords: Yesterday, last week, last month, in 2017 (or any year before that), ago etc.
Example: Angela watched TV all night.
[Link] CONTINUOUS TENSE:
Used to focus on actions happening at a specific time in the past. E.g. I was driving my car at 9:20 p.m last night.
Here, the action was continued until a certain time in the past.
Keywords: while , when, at (a time)
Example: I was sleeping when you called.
[Link] PERFECT TENSE:
Used for past actions that occurred before another past action.
E.g. I had met my wife before I graduated university.
Here, the action is explained that, happened before another action in the past.
Keywords: Already, before [a past event],. by the time
Examples: I had eaten. I had already eaten when they arrived.

[Link] PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE:

Here, the action is explained which started in the past and continued until another time in the past.
Keywords: For, since
Example: I had been eating for two hours before my friend arrived.

Future Tenses:
1. SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE–
It is used when we plan or make a decision to do something. No explanation is given about the time in the future.
For future actions that are not 100% decided.
E.g. I think I will go to the party.
To show that a future action is done voluntarily (the actor chooses to do it).
E.g. I will help you tomorrow.
Keywords: probably, likely, maybe
Example: I will sing I will sleep.

2. FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE:

Denotes action at a particular moment in the future.
However, the action will not have finished at the moment.
Keywords: for
Example: I will be eating at 9 a.m. I’ll be staying with my friends for several weeks.

3. FUTURE PERFECT TENSE:

Explain action that will occur in the future before another action in the future.
Keywords: When, by the time
Example: I will have finished cooking by the time you arrive. I will have washed the clothes before you arrive.

4. FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE:

It is used to talk about a continued action before some point in the future.
we use future continues tense to show any activity at a particular time in the future.
Keywords: For, by the time
Example: I will have been cooking for two hours when you arrive.
I will have been studying for two hours by the time my parents come.