Athabasca University Write Site Verb Tenses
Athabasca University Write Site Verb Tenses sets out the twelve English tenses as two reference charts with a short explanation of how each verb phrase is built. Published by the Write Site of Athabasca University as part of its English grammar handbook, the page states the rule behind the simple, progressive, perfect and perfect progressive forms, then matches every tense with a definition, a conjugated example, a sample sentence and the time words that signal it.
100% Free (unlimited): the explanation, both charts and the list of time words sit on an open university page that anyone may read, with no account, no registration and no payment. The rest of the Write Site grammar handbook, including the linked exercises on tense consistency, opens the same way.
How It Helps Your Business English
An opening paragraph states the pattern behind each group of tenses: the progressive uses a form of be with the main verb and -ing, the perfect uses a form of have with the past participle, and the perfect progressive combines have, been and -ing. A first chart then crosses past, present and future with the four aspects, giving for each of the twelve cells what the tense expresses, the conjugated form of one verb and a sample sentence. A second chart lists, cell by cell, the time words that point to each tense, and a short note explains that a single time word may fit more than one tense.
You can learn the three building patterns at the top and then form any tense yourself instead of looking one up each time. The first chart lets you check in one glance what a tense actually expresses before you commit to it in a report or a message. The second chart works in the other direction: when a sentence already contains a word such as by the time, since or while, you can find that word and see which tenses it fits, which is a quick way to settle a hesitation while you are editing your own writing.
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