User:Robbiemuffin/EnglishTAM

The difference between tense, modal, and aspect is that: tense changes the time in the phrase by inflection on the verb, modal adds an auxiliary to the verb to change the phrase (mnemonic: the presence of the auxiliary “changes the mode”), and the aspect uses both inflection and an auxiliary.

The way it breaks down is like this:

 To DO 
 * Simple Tenses
 * 1) I did (I /do +ed/) - past tense
 * 2) I do - nonpast tense
 * Other principle Tenses
 * 1) I will do - future
 * 2) I have done (I have /do +en/) - perfect
 * 3) I am doing (I /be/ doing) - continuous

And from those you can construct any frame of reference in english. For example: will have been  LEMMA -ing (future perfect progressive) - is made from the modal + both aspects. (And of course the modal itself is really made from the nonpast so in a sense it is nonpast tense + modal + both aspects).