TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Tenses in English............................................................................2

2. Definition of Harmony of Tenses...................................................3

1.1Present – Past (Hiện Tại – Quá Khứ)

1.2Past – Past (Quá Khứ – Quá Khứ)

1.3Present – Future (Hiện Tại – Tương Lai)

3. Common cases when harmonizing tenses in sentences..................5

4. Recognize when to use the consonant tense in sentences...............7

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1 tenses in English

To be able to understand tenses agreement in English, first of all, we need to know what
tenses in English include.

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 2 Definition of Harmony of Tenses

 After knowing the tenses in English, we will learn about their harmony. In English, a
sentence can have many clauses (S+V), then the verbs in each clause must have a tense
harmony. In other words, the tense of the verb in the subordinate clause (adverb clause)
is governed by the tense of the verb in the main clause.
1.1. Present – Past

Present Perfect SINCE Past Simple

Ví dụ: We haven’t met him since we left school.

1.2. Past - Past (Past - Past):

 Past Continuous (prolonged) ↔ WHEN ↔ Past Simple (interrupted), You can reverse
the two tenses if an interjected situation precedes a prolonged situation.
Ví dụ: I came to her house when she was sleeping.

 Past Perfect (which happened first) ↔ WHEN ↔ Past Simple (which happened after)
The two tenses can be reversed.
EX : The plane had taken off when we arrived at the airport..

 Past Simple ↔ WHEN ↔ Past Simple (Continued occurrences).

Ví dụ: She cooked the dinner when she got home.

 Past Continuous (parallel) / Past Simple (interrupted) ↔ WHILE ↔ Past Continuous

(except for state verbs: be, know, understand, like, hate, belong).
EX : The mother was cooking the dinner while the father was watching TV.

 Past Simple AFTER Past Perfect

AFTER Past Perfect, Past Simple.
EX : He went to bed after he had done his homework.

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 Past Perfect BEFORE / BY THE TIME Past Simple
EX : Everyone had left for home by the time I went to the party.

 Past Simple ↔ AS SOON AS Past Simple

EX : I called you as soon as I got home.

 Past Simple UNTIL / TILL Past Simple / Past Perfect

EX : I called her until I got to the station.

1.3. Present – Future (Present – Future)

After a time clause, the future tense must not be divided, but must be divided according to
the following harmony rules:
 Future Simple WHEN Present Simple + Future time
 Future Simple AFTER Present Simple / Present Perfect + Time in the future

Ví dụ: He will come back his country after he finishes his courses.

 Future Simple BEFORE Present Simple

 Future Perfect BY THE TIME Present Simple
 Future Simple AS SOON AS Present Simple / Present Perfect
 Future Simple UNTIL Present Simple

3 Common cases when harmonizing tenses in sentences

Case 1: just a habit, obvious truth.
- The main clause is in the present simple
- The adverb clause is in the present simple.
Example: - We always take our umbrella with us when/in case it rains.
- If we put ice under the sun, it melts.

Case 2: emphasize the action in progress.

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- The main clause is in the present simple
- The adverb clause is in the Present Continuous
Example: I usually read books while I'm waiting for the bus.

Case 3: emphasize the completeness of the action.

- The main clause is in the present simple
- The adverb clause is in the present perfect tense
Example: - He never goes home before he has finished his work.
- Don't go out before you have finished your homework.

Case 4: emphasizes 2 parallel actions in the present (past).

- The main clause is in the Present Continuous (QKTD)
- Adverb clauses in the Present Continuous (QKTD)
Example: - We are studying while they are going out.
- I was learning while my father was watching TV.

Case 5: emphasizing actions happening from the past to the present.

- The main clause is in the present perfect tense
- The adverb clause is in the Simple Past tense.
Example: - She has studied English since she was 4 years old.
- He has been studying English since he came here.

Case 6: emphasizing past habits, past actions.

- The main clause is in the past simple
- The adverb clause is in the Simple Past tense.
Example: - I sat near the window whenever I took a bus.
- He saw 10 mice when he came into the room.

Case 7: emphasizes the action that occurs when another action has finished.
- The main clause is in the past simple
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- The adverb clause is in the past perfect tense
Example: - He came after/when everyone had left.
- He left as soon as he had finished his work.

Case 8: emphasizing the action that is happening, when another action intervenes.
- The main clause is in the past continuous tense
- The adverb clause is in the past simple tense
Example: - It was raining when we arrived there.
- He was watching TV when I came.

Case 9: emphasizes an action that happened before a past action.

- The main clause is in the past perfect tense
- Adverb clauses in the past simple:
Example: - The train had already left when I arrived at the station.
- He had lived in New York for 4 years before he moved to Ha Noi.

Case 10: emphasizing the moment.

- The main clause is in the Future Simple
- Adverb clauses in the simple present tense:
Example: - I will call you if I need any help.
- I won't leave until I have your answer.

Case 11: emphasize completeness.

- The main clause is in the Future Simple
- The adverb clause is in the present perfect tense
Example: - We'll go home as soon as/once we have finished our work.
- We are going to send a report as soon as/once we have finished our work.
Note: "be going to" means sure, have a plan.

Case 12: emphasizes the completeness of a future action.

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 - The main clause is in the future perfect tense
- The adverb clause is in the present simple
Example: - I will have lost all my hair before I'm 40.
- We will have already finished that work by the time/when you get back.
Note: Do not use future tense in adverbial clauses of time.

4 Recognize when to use the consonant tense in sentences

To properly recognize the consonance of verbs in sentences with multiple clauses, you
need to pay attention to the meaning and usage of conjunctions - which function to
connect words, phrases, and clauses in sentences. Because in some cases, conjunctions
will tell you about the relationship of tenses between verbs.

Some common conjunctions are: and (and), but (but), if (if), before (before), after
(after), because (because), since (because, since), as soon as (as soon as)…

After learning about tenses in English and their relationships, we have somewhat understood
the tense agreement in english. Hopefully after this lesson we can accumulate more experiences
for ourselves to improve our grammar and learning ability.

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