How it all fits together
One idea ties the grammar together: the verb group carries the time and the attitude — helping verbs build the tense, modals add ability, advice or necessity, and the subject decides the form.
Click any branch to open or close it. Dotted boxes are the end of a branch.
How the ideas connect
Links worth saying aloud — this is what turns facts into understanding.
1 · Helping verbs build the tenses
Every continuous tense uses be; every perfect tense uses have. Learn be and have and you have the whole chart.
2 · V1 after "special" words
After a modal and after do/does/did, the main verb is always V1. That one rule fixes most grammar mistakes.
3 · Subject first, then verb
The subject decides is/are, was/were, has/have. Find it before you fill any blank.
4 · Time words point to the tense
Read the whole sentence for clues — "now", "yesterday", "already", "tomorrow" — before choosing a verb form.
Self-test — rebuild the map from memory
Close the tree above, then tick each one you can say out loud without looking.