I live in Tainan. (permanent)
I am now living in Tainan. (temporary)
Past continuous ---When Princess Diana was visiting France, she met a horrible accident and died.
When he called me last night, I was having a shower.
When I was living in London, I met my present wife.
When we were having war against Japan in Nanking, I found a lot of gold in a
basement.
When Prince Black moved into the castle, he thought he would be safe. He had his
first great sleep in that year. That night, some enemies found him and killed him
without his knowing it. He was having a great dream about his homeland. Alas! He
did not even know who killed him and how he was killed. He had never dreamed
about his homeland before, and he would never dream about it again.
[----past----perfect----present----future]
Present simple -Habitual: He goes to school every day.
Truth: The sun rises from the east.
Theory: The higher you climb, the lower you will fall.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Don’t put all your boyfriends in your room.
Past ----President Ma was a handsome, but he is not now.
President Ma graduated from Harvard.
I was born in 1990.
In quotation ---Plato said, “There is a soul in the universe.”
Of + noun = adjective
I am a smart, wise, intelligent, and brilliant boy.
I am a boy of great wisdom, intelligence, and brilliance.
Present simple to describe one’s nature and habitual behavior -----Past simple to describe the event -----Past perfect to enhance the action ----I have a friend called Kevin. He always cuts class without any reason. Once when he
was going out of the door, the teacher, (who had) having just finished his example,
turned to asked him,”Why do you come so late?”
Present perfect
I had/have seen the movie yesterday. (x)
(point of past time)
I have just finished my homework.
I have taught here for over 13 years.
I haven’t got married yet. I am engaged.
I haven’t seen any handsome boy in this campus since the day I came here.
Recently I have been engaged in x-sports.
Have you ever met my cousin?
Be + pp/adjective to describe the condition.
I am not married.
I am still single.
Past simple even though one happened earlier----I met my old friend Joe when I visited Japan.
I met my old friend Joe after I had finished my business trip to Japan.
Choose the tense form according to the thing you want to emphasize----When he was still doing his house chores, we were preparing for our trip to Japan.
When he had done his house chores, we were still preparing for our trip to Japan.
Sometimes, you have no choice-----Because I had finished my homework, I went out to play.
When I went home, my sons were leaving / had left.
Careful learn how to form great sentences in past perfect--------After 10 years, he found that he was actually a girl. (NG)
Ten years had passed before he found that he was actually a girl.
He called me before he came to pick me up. (notice the use of before)
He had shaved off all the hair on his belly before he came to FB to announce it.