English tenses decision tree

English
decision tree
grammar
Author

Toni Incog

Published

January 7, 2024

pick the correct English tense with ease
Use a decision tree to pick the correct English tense with ease.

As a confessing non-native English speaker I sometimes struggle with English tenses. Especially, when it comes to past tenses I am prone to pick the wrong ones.

I just developed a decision tree to help me distinguish the correct tense in English with a little help from ChatGPT1

graph TD
    A[Is the action/event happening now?] -->|Yes| B[Is it happening right at this moment?]
    A -->|No| C[Is the action/event in the past?]
    B -->|Yes| D[Present Continuous<br>Ex: ‘I am reading.’<br><br>Decision: Present Continuous]
    B -->|No| E[Is it a repeated action or habit?]
    E -->|Yes| F[Simple Present<br>Ex: ‘I read every day.’]
    E -->|No| G[Has it recently stopped?]
    G -->|Yes| H[Present Perfect<br>Ex: ‘I have just finished reading.’<br><br>Decision: Present Perfect]
    G -->|No| I[Present Perfect Continuous<br>Ex: ‘I have been reading for two hours.’<br><br>Decision: Present Perfect Continuous]
    C -->|Yes| J[Was it a completed action/event?]
    C -->|No| K[Is it planned or scheduled for the future?]
    J -->|Yes| L[Simple Past<br>Ex: ‘I read the book yesterday.’<br><br>Decision: Simple Past]
    J -->|No| M[Was it happening at a specific time or interrupted?]
    M -->|Yes| N[Past Continuous<br>Ex: ‘I was reading when you called.’<br><br>Decision: Past Continuous]
    M -->|No| O[Was it completed before another past event?]
    O -->|Yes| P[Past Perfect<br>Ex: ‘I had finished the book before the meeting.’<br><br>Decision: Past Perfect]
    O -->|No| Q[Past Perfect Continuous<br>Ex: ‘I had been reading for three hours when you arrived.’<br><br>Decision: Past Perfect Continuous]
    K -->|Yes| R[Simple Future<br>Ex: ‘I will read that book tomorrow.’<br><br>Decision: Simple Future]
    K -->|No| S[Will it be happening repeatedly in the future?]
    S -->|Yes| T[Future Continuous<br>Ex: ‘I will be reading at 8 PM.’<br><br>Decision: Future Continuous]
    S -->|No| U[Will it be completed before a specific time?]
    U -->|Yes| V[Future Perfect<br>Ex: ‘I will have read the book by tomorrow.’<br><br>Decision: Future Perfect]
    U -->|No| W[Future Perfect Continuous<br>Ex: ‘I will have been reading for two hours by then.’<br><br>Decision: Future Perfect Continuous]

    class D,H,I,L,N,P,Q,R,T,V,W decision;
    classDef decision fill:red,color:white;

Figure 1: This is a simple mermaid graph.

Choosing the correct English tense involves recognizing various cues that signal the appropriate tense for a given situation. Here are some cues for each major tense:

  1. Simple Present:

    • Habitual actions: “I walk to work every day.”
    • General truths: “Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.”
    • Scheduled events (in the near future): “The train leaves at 6 PM.”
  2. Present Continuous:

    • Actions happening right now: “She is talking to her friend.”
    • Actions happening around the current period: “I am reading a great book.”
    • Planned future events: “We are meeting him tomorrow.”
  3. Simple Past:

    • Completed actions in the past: “I visited Paris last year.”
    • Past facts or generalizations: “He lived in London for a decade.”
  4. Past Continuous:

    • Actions that were ongoing at a specific time in the past: “At 8 PM, I was watching TV.”
    • To indicate an action that was interrupted: “I was walking when it started to rain.”
  5. Present Perfect:

    • Actions that occurred at an unspecified time before now: “I have seen that movie before.”
    • Actions that started in the past and continue to the present: “They have lived here for 20 years.”
  6. Present Perfect Continuous:

    • Actions that started in the past and are still continuing: “She has been studying all morning.”
    • Actions that were recently stopped and have a present result: “I am tired because I have been running.”
  7. Simple Future:

    • Actions that will happen in the future: “I will travel to Japan next year.”
    • Predictions about the future: “It will rain tomorrow.”
  8. Future Continuous:

    • Actions that will be ongoing at a specific time in the future: “This time next week, I will be lying on the beach.”
    • Future events that are expected to happen in the normal course of things: “He will be arriving at 9 PM.”
  9. Past Perfect:

    • Actions that were completed before another action in the past: “I had already eaten when she called.”
    • To show cause and effect in the past: “She was tired because she hadn’t slept well.”
  10. Past Perfect Continuous:

    • Actions that were ongoing in the past before another action: “I had been waiting for an hour when he finally arrived.”
    • To show the cause of a past action: “He was out of breath because he had been running.”
  11. Future Perfect:

    • Actions that will be completed before a specific point in the future: “By next month, I will have completed the project.”
    • Predicting a future accomplishment: “They will have finished the house by December.”
  12. Future Perfect Continuous:

    • Actions that will continue up to a point in the future: “By the end of the year, I will have been working here for five years.”
    • To show the duration of an action up to a future time: “He will have been teaching for 30 years by the time he retires.”

Recognizing these cues in context is key to selecting the appropriate tense. Practice and exposure to different scenarios will enhance your ability to choose the correct tense intuitively.