This document provides a summary of basic rules for using the present and past tenses in English. It outlines rules for subject-verb agreement in the present tense. It then discusses the simple present, present progressive, present perfect, and present perfect progressive tenses. For the past tense, it discusses the simple past, past progressive, past perfect, and past perfect progressive tenses. The document concludes with an example story told in the present and past tenses to illustrate their usage.