This Week's Essential English Learning Tip:
GRAMMAR ESSENTIALS

One of the best ways to master English grammar is by making a template and practicing it over and over again with different words and situations.

Below is the basics template for you to follow:

There are 8 main tenses you need to know perfectly in order to understand and use perfect English because the whole English language is created around these 8 tenses.

Here are the 8 tenses:

1. Past tense sentence
2. Past tense question
3. Present tense sentence
4. Present tense question
5. Future tense sentence
6. Future tense question
7. Every day tense sentence
8. Every day tense question

To hear an example, click here.

Here is the basics template you need to use:

1. Past tense sentence
I ate an apple.

2. Past tense question
Did you eat an apple?

3. Present tense sentence
I am eating an apple.

4. Present tense question
Are you eating an apple?

5. Future tense sentence
I will eat an apple.
or
I am going to eat an apple.

6. Future tense question
Will you eat an apple?
or
Are you going to eat an apple?

7. Every day tense sentence
I eat apples (every day).

8. Every day tense question
Do you eat apples (every day)?

Now all you need to do is change one or two words
to describe the different actions or situations.

Example:
PAST TENSE SENTENCE:
Change I ate an apple to:
I played golf
He went to work
She drank a glass of milk
We sang a song
They learned English


Once you have perfected all 8 tenses using different actions (ate, drank, learned, played, went etc) and with different subjects (I, you, he, she, we, they and it), you can progress to more advanced tense templates.

EXAMPLES:
Emphasizing taking time with "ing"

1. Past tense sentence
I was eating an apple

2. Past tense question
What were you eating?

3. Future tense sentence
I am going to be eating an apple.

4. Future tense question
What are you going to be eating?


Then of course there are other even more advanced tense templates, such as:

I have just eaten an apple
I have been eating an apple
I had been eating an apple

I won't go into those now because I don't want to confuse you with all these different tenses and style.

All you need to do right now is master the 8 tenses as explained above, then if you like progress to the "ing" style sentences. The only way to master them is by practicing over and over again. A great way is to ask yourself:

What did I do today?
What am I doing now?
What will I do tomorrow?

and your 8 tense answers will come to you with different answers, but the same sentence structure.

To learn more about how English Essentials can help you speak like a native English speaker, click here.