The Poligo Past Sentence Patterns Cheat Sheet

By Matthew, 23 October 2008 - 7:14pm
4.3
 
 
Grammar name (English): 
Past Tenses
Grammar name (日本語): 
過去形

A short list of all the ways to speak about the past in English.

 Name Pattern Example
Simple
Simple Past VERB + ed I called her.
Present Perfect have P.P. I have called her.
Past Perfect had P.P. I had called her.
Continuous
(progressive)
 Past Continuous was/were VERB + ing I was calling her.
Present Perfect Continuous have been VERB + ing I have been calling her.
Past Perfect Continuous had been VERB + ing I had been calling her.
Passive
 Simple Past Passive was/were P.P. She was called.
Present Perfect Passive have been P.P. She has been called.
Past Perfect Passive had been P.P. She had been called.
Passive continuous
Past Passive Continuous was/were being P.P. She was being called.
Present Perfect Continuous  have been being P.P. She has been being called.
Past Perfect Continuous  had been being P.P. She had been being called.
Verb phrases

 used to used to VERB I used to call her.
be going to was/were going to VERB I was going to call her.
be supposed to was/were supposed to VERB I was supposed to call her.
be able to was/were able to VERB I was able to call her.
Modals
 may might VERB
 		I might call her.
shall should VERB
 I should call her.
ought to
 ought to VERB
 I ought to call her.
will would VERB I would call her.
can could VERB I could call her.
Past modals
 may may have P.P. I may have called her.
might might have P.P. I might have called her.
shall shall have P.P. I shall have called her.
should should have P.P. I should have called her.
ought to ought to have P.P. I ought to have called her.
will will have P.P. I will have called her.
would would have P.P. I would have called her.
can
 can have P.P. I can have called her.
can't can't have P.P. I can't have called her.
could could have P.P.  I could have called her.
Notes: 
  1. This is a Poligo Cheat Sheet for studying past sentence patterns in English. There is also a cheat sheet for future patterns.
  2. Add your own examples to each to make it more memorable.
  3. Anything in orange italics is very unlikely, but possible. In the case of can have + P.P. this is always negative (listed separately), or could have + P.P. is used.
  4. Modals are difficult. Some are already 'past' like could, would, should, and might, but don't often talk about the past. In fact, should, ought to and might talk about now or the future (never the past). These are shown like this.
  5. "Shall have P.P." looks like it is a past sentnece, but is future perfect. It is also marked like this.
  6. "Will have P.P." is future perfect, but can be used in a past way to express certainty. For example. "He will have gone yesterday."
  7. Modals of Certainty can be made past using MODAL + have + P.P. (She might have gone yesterday).
  8. Read Past Sentence Patterns for more about past questions and negatives.