Pengungkapan suatu kejadian/aktivitas atau fakta baik melalui tulisan (writing) maupun percakapan (speaking) pada umumnya mengikuti pola sebagai berikut:

Subject + Verb/Predicate + Object + Modifier

Dalam bahasa Inggris, pengungkapan kejadian/aktivitas atau fakta tersebut selalu berpatokan pada tensis. Dengan tensis, pembaca atau lawan bicara akan mengetahui kapan kejadian/aktivitas atau fakta tersebut terjadi; Apakah sedang berlangsung pada saat sekarang (present continuous tense), apakah terjadi di masa lampau (past tense), apakah sedang berlangsung di masa lampau (past continuous tense), apakah akan terjadi di masa yang akan datang (future tense), dan seterusnya.

Di sini, kita akan mendiskusikan 16 tensis (& aspek) dalam bahasa Inggris, yaitu:

1. Simple present tense
2. Present continuous tense
3. Simple past tense
4. Past continuous tense
5. Present perfect tense
6. Present perfect continuous tense
7. Past perfect tense
8. Past perfect continuous tense
9. Simple future tense
10. Future continuous tense
11. Future perfect tense
12. Future perfect continuous tense
13. Past future tense
14. Past future continuous tense
15. Past future perfect tense
16. Past future perfect continuous tense

Pada tabel di bawah secara berturut-turut diberikan contoh untuk tiap-tiap tensis. Perhatikan perubahan verb atau verb phrase seiring dengan berubahnya keterangan waktu.

	Subject	Verb/Predicate	Object	Modifier
1	We	study	English	everyday.
2	We	are studying	English	now.
3	We	studied	English	last night.
4	We	were studying	English	when she came last night.
5	We	have studied	English	for 3 hours.
6	We	have been studying	English	for 3 hours.
7	We	had studied	English	for 3 hours when she came last night.
8	We	had been studying	English	for 3 hours when she came last night.
9	We	will study	English	tomorrow.
10	We	will be studying	English	when she comes tomorrow.
11	We	will have studied	English	for 3 hours when she comes tomorrow.
12	We	will have been studying	English	for 3 hours when she comes tomorrow.
13	We	would study	English	when she came last night.
14	We	would be studying	English	when she came last night.
15	We	would have studied	English	for 3 hours when she came last night.
16	We	would have been studying	English	for 3 hours when she came last night.

Note: Khusus untuk contoh 5&6, 7&8, 11&12, dan 15&16 keterangan waktunya sama. Kenapa? Mari kita bahas tiap tensis satu per satu.