Note that Continuous tenses or forms are also often known as Progressive. When looking at other systems, I shall use these terms, Present simple, Past continuous, Future perfect etc. as referents. I shall only be looking at Active Indicative (in other words - standard, normal) tenses, as these are the basic building blocks of the tense system.
In the beginning were three times
The first English grammar book is generally taken to be 'A Bref Grammar for English' by William Bullokar (Wikipedia), and published in 1586. Unfortunately I've been unable to find a copy of this on the Internet, so we'll start with Ben Jonson's 'The English Grammar', published in 1640. Johnson doesn't appear to use the word tense but talks of three times: past, present and future.
He then suggests that other times are expressed by what he calls a syntax, a form which he doesn't seem to consider to be a real tense:
For the English equivalents of Jonson's Latin examples, see the section titled 'Latin Rules, OK!' below. You can see Johnson's Grammar at [Archive.org] and a facsimile of the original at [Google Books]
In those days, English had a different pronoun for Second person singular - thou, thee, thy, thine, and as we shall see in a minute, a different subject form for you - ye. These are no longer used (in Standard English), but most of us are familiar with them, especially from their use in the Bible and by Shakespeare.
At that time, there was a separate verb form for Second person singular present (thou dost) and two forms for Third person singular (he doeth / he does).
There's an example of this -th form in the first extract - hath. Jonson also points out that until the reign of Henry VIII plural forms ended in en: loven, sayen, complainen. So while today we have only two forms in Present simple, up until the fifteenth century there were four:
I go
Thou goest
He, she, it goeth (or goes)
We, you, they goen
Joseph Priestley - an early dissenter
Joseph Priestly was an eighteenth century polymath: dissenting clergyman and theologian, philosopher and scientist (he is often credited with the discovery of oxygen). In his The rudiments of English Grammar 1761 [Archive.org (London 1872)] he dissents from the three time view:
Note his use of the -eth form (instead of -s) for Third person singular. Taking this view, he anticipates some twentieth-century linguists, who also talk of a two-tense system, with what he calls the 'Preter' tense being more commonly known as the Preterite (= Past simple). Other verb forms he categorises as 'Compound forms', dividing them into three orders, depending on which verb form is used, and three compounds, depending on the number of auxiliaries used:
The First order: the base form after will/shall or modal
I shall hear (= Future simple + other modal constructions)
The Second order: the -ing form after be
I am hearing, I was hearing (= Present continous, Past continuous)
The Third order: the past participle after have
I have heard, I had heard, I will have heard (= The three Perfect tenses)
The First double compound
I shall be hearing (= Future continuous and other modal constructions)
The Second double compound
I have been hearing, I had been hearing (= Present and Past perfect continuous)
The Triple compound
I shall have been hearing (= Future perfect continuous)
So, with his two tenses, three orders and three compounds, Priestley covers all twelve forms of the twelve tense system. In his linking of will with other modals in one order he is also pre-dating the twentieth-century linguists.
Prescriptivism and descriptivism
There was another way that Priestley was similar to modern grammar writers - he was, like Ben Jonson before him, a descriptivist (describing grammar as it is used) - following what has been called the Doctrine of General Usage as opposed to the Doctrine of Rules or Correctness favoured by the prescriptivists (those who think grammars should tell you what is - in their view - correct) - see the paper from Novgorod in the links at the end.
The grammar taught in EFL course books and grammar books is largely descriptive, reflecting how most educated speakers use the language, pointing out the differences between informal and formal use, rather than insisting that formal use is the only correct use, as prescriptivist grammars tend to do.
Robert Lowth, the first prescriptive grammarian
Bishop Robert Lowth was the first true prescriptivist, telling readers what they should do, rather than describing what was done. His A Short Introduction to English Grammar with Critical Notes, first published in 1762, was the model followed by almost every grammar book until the twentieth century (and even one or two today). In it, Lowth follows the 'three times' approach [Archive.org] [Google Books]
Lowth then goes on to talk about 'distinctions of time', for example whether 'passing' (also referred to as Imperfect) or 'finished' (Perfect). The simple forms he refers to as Indefinite or Undetermined time
So, apart from Perfect Continuous (which is often seen as a compound), Lowth covers all the forms of our twelve tense system, albeit with different terminology. We shall see that this idea of 'Imperfect', taken from Latin grammar, is very common in older grammars, and that use of the term 'Indefinite' for what we call Simple tenses comes up again in several grammars.
Three tenses, three (or four) forms
Some later writers, such as William Smith and Theophilus Hall, the authors of 'A School Manual of English Grammar with Copious Exercises' [Archive.org], published in 1889, stayed with the three tense system, but allowing each 'main tense' three forms plus a fourth in the Active voice, here listed as:
Indefinite (= simple)
Incomplete (= continuous)
Complete (= perfect)
Perfect-incomplete (= perfect continuous)
Latin Rules, OK!
We saw how Ben Jonson compared his English verb forms to Latin ones, and referred to Imperfect and Perfect forms.
In Latin, there are six tenses:
Present - amo - I love, I am loving
Imperfect - amabam - I was loving, I used to love
Perfect - amavi - I have loved, I loved
Pluperfect - amaveram - I had loved
Future - amabo - I will love, I will be loving
Future perfect - amavero - I will have loved
A couple of points are worth noting here:
Latin does not have separate Continuous or Progressive tenses
The Imperfect isn't the equivalent of Past simple, but has a meaning more like that of Past continuous as well as 'used to'.
In Latin, the Perfect tense was used for completed actions in the past, covered by two tenses in English - Past simple and Present perfect.
Jonson also refers to amem, amarem, amaverim, amavissem. These are the Subjunctive forms of Present, Imperfect, Perfect and Pluperfect tenses, respectively.
Latin English (EFL) French Spanish
present present simple
present continuous présent presente
imperfect past continuous
'used to' imparfait imperfecto
perfect past simple
present perfect passé simple
passé composé pretérito indefinido
pretérito perfecto
pluperfect past perfect
past perfect continuous plus-que-parfait pluscuamperfecto
future future simple
future continuous futur simple futuro
future perfect future perfect
future perfect continuous futur antérieur futuro perfecto
When I was at school, we used the same names as for the Latin tenses, so we learnt about Imperfect rather than Past continuous, Perfect rather than Present perfect, and Pluperfect rather than Past Perfect.
Six tenses - Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
Given the status of Latin, it is perhaps not surprising that many early grammarians went for a six-tense system: there is some variation in terminology, but the actual tenses don't vary. In this system, continuous forms are not counted as tenses, and are usually seen as variations of these six tenses.
In his famous dictionary, first published in 1766, Johnson has a section called A Grammar of the English Tongue [Archive.org] [Google Books]. In this he lists six tenses:
Present tense - I have
Simple preterite - I had
Compound preterite - I have had
Preterpluperfect - I had had
Future - I shall (will) have
Second future - I shall (will) have had
This practice of using the term Second future for what we normally call Future perfect is quite common in grammar books of this period.
As for continous tenses, Johnson says:
We often express the present tense as "I am going", "I am grieving"' ... So the other tenses: "we were walking", "I have been walking", "I had been walking", "I will be walking"'.
He doesn't seem to give these a name, though, or consider them separate tenses; simply regarding them as variations of his six tenses.
Six tenses - Lindley Murray
Another grammarian to develop the three times into six tenses was Lindley Murray. Continuing the Lowthian idea of prescriptive grammar, Murray was the author of English grammar: adapted to the different classes of learners, first published in 1795 and which became probably the most influential grammar book of the first half of the nineteenth century, in both Britain and North America.
The Present tense
'I rule','She is an amiable woman','He walks out every morning'
The Imperfect tense
'I loved her','They were travelling'
The Perfect tense
'I have finished my letter'
The Pluperfect tense
'I had finished my letter before thet arrived'
The First Future tense
'The sun will rise tomorrow', 'I shall see them again'
The Second Future tense
'I shall have dined at one o'clock'
Murray departs a little from the Latin model by listing both Past continuous and Past simple as Imperfect. More generally, he makes two distinctions:
1. between Indefinite use:
'Virtue promotes happiness'
and Definite use
'My brother is writing'
2. between imperfect, or unfinished actions
'I am writing','I was writing','I shall be writing'
and those that 'denote complete perfect action'
'I wrote','I have written','I had written','I shall have written'
It's worth noting, perhaps, that Murray makes a point about the Perfect tense (our Present perfect) which is still very important in today's teaching:
The perfect tense not only refers to what is past, but also conveys an allusion to present time ... In general, the perfect tense may be applied wherever the action is connected with the present time
He also uses the term 'Simple tenses' for our Present Simple and Past Simple, where no auxiliaries are involved.
Six tenses - other grammarians
GP Quackenbos, in An English Grammar 1864 [Archive.org] has the same six tenses with the same names as Lindley Murray.
Judson Perry Welsh, in A Practical English Grammar (Philadelphia 1889) [Archive.org] also lists six tenses (with more modern names, but with no mention of continuous forms that I can see):
Present tense, Past tense, Present perfect tense, Past perfect tense, Future tense, Future perfect tense
GW Henderson - English Grammar by Parallelism and Comparison (1910) [Archive.org] has the same six tenses as Welsh. But he specifically mentions separate Progressive forms and Emphatic forms.
In his The Grammar, History and Derivation of the English Language 1890 [Archive.org], the Rev Canon Daniel divides the three times into two tenses, one Imperfect and one Perfect, giving him six tenses, each of which has two forms - Simple and Continuous.
In a more modern book, Teaching English grammar (New York 1957) [Archive.org] by RC Pooley,the author also talks of six tenses, saying that 'Modern English has also added some variations within the tenses', saying we make considerable use of emphatic and progressive forms. This book is particularly interesting in that it compares Modern English forms with those of Old English.
Back to three - Noah Webster and William Cobbett
Noah Webster's A Grammatical Institute of the English Language (1790) is in the form of questions and answers:
That seems to just about all he has to say about Perfect and Continuous forms and he doesn't seem to use terms like Perfect and Imperfect at all. [Archive.org] - [Google Books]
William Cobbett was one of the most colourful figures in early 19th century England. In many ways a radical, in others deeply conservative, he is best known for his book Rural Rides. He also spent some time in the US and his Grammar of the English Language was first published in New York in 1818. This consisted of a series of letters to his son, James Paul Cobbett.
Cobbett simply lists three times, ignoring what he calls 'compound times'. But in his notes to the Tenth Edition, editor Robert Walters lists all the possible forms of one verb, saying 'Do not be afraid; it will not confuse you, if only you will be patient'. This list includes eight tenses; the familiar six, plus two he calls 'Present tense conditional' and 'Perfect tense conditional' [Archive.org]. This list is also interesting as it illustrates 'The Potential Mood', a concept that a lot of older grammar books talk about, but which seems to have fallen by the wayside.
Three plus three
Some nineteenth century grammar books keep the six tense system, but subdivide them into two sets of three:
In English Grammar: The English Language in its Elements and Forms, first published in 1850, [Archive.org - New York 1876] William Chauncey Fowler lists:
3 Primary tenses - Past, Present, Future
3 Secondary tenses - Past perfect, Present perfect, Future perfect
Within each of these tenses he allows two forms - Simple and Progressive (Continuous). In the (Primary) Present and Past tenses, he also includes a third form: the emphatic form - 'I do love you!', 'I did do my homework!'.
Others take a similar approach, with a slight change of terminology. TW Harvey, in Harvey's English Grammar (Cincinatti 1870) [Archive.org] talks of:
3 Absolute tenses - Past, Present, Future
3 Relative tenses - Past perfect, Present perfect, Future perfect
And in English Grammar and Analysis (London 1889), W Davidson and JC Alcock 1889 [Archive.org] talk of:
3 Principal tenses - Past, Present, Future
3 Secondary tenses - Past perfect, Present perfect, Future perfect
in both of these books each tense also has a progressive form.
Six plus six
We are now getting closer to our familiar ELF twelve tense system. JD Rose, in Advanced English Grammar through Composition (London 1917) [Archive.org] is the first I've noticed to talk of Simple tenses in his categorisations. He divides his twelve tenses into:
Six Momentary tenses
Present, Past, Present perfect, Past perfect, Future, Future perfect
Six Continuous tenses
Present, Imperfect, Present perfect, Past perfect, Future, Future perfect
Note the use of 'Imperfect' for Past continuous - this was very common in traditional grammar teaching (such as I had at school), and often included the 'used to' construction as well. Rose also has a couple of strange additional tenses which he calls Future in the Past (eg. 'I should write')and Future Perfect in the Past (eg. 'I should have written') - these are different from what we normally think of as Future in the Past today.
And then there were nine (plus three)
A couple of books talk about nine primary tenses:
A West - The Elements of English Grammar 1907 [Archive.org] is particularly interesting as he gives the Imperfect and Perfect forms just about every possible name he could think of:
Time Imperfect, Incomplete,
Unfinished, Progressive, Continuous Perfect, Complete, Finished Indefinite
Present I am writing I have written I write
Past I was writing I had written I wrote
Future I shall be writing I shall have written I shall write
West then adds that there is an additional set of three Perfect continuous tenses. He is also interesting for rejecting the idea that the 'going to' form constituted a tense (some had called it the 'Intentional tense') as well as the notion that the emphatic forms (see above) were separate tenses.
In The English Language; its Grammar, History and Literature 1896 JMD Meiklejohn talks of three chief tenses, each with three subdivisions - Indefinite, Perfect and Imperfect [Archive.org (Boston 1896)]. He then mentions Perfect continous tenses, and ends up listing the full twelve tenses: [Archive.org]
At last twelve
In An English Grammar for the Use of High School, Academy and College Classes, W.M. Baskerville, J.W. Sewell say that while Old English only had two tenses:
English of the present day not only has a tense for each of the time divisions - past, present, future - but has other tenses to correspond with those of highly inflected language, such as Latin and Greek
And they end up listing twelve, using the term 'Definite' for what are usually called Continuous or Progressive tenses. [Archive.org]
JC Nesfield, in A Manual of English Grammar and Composition 1898 [Archive.org] shows a twelve tense system consisting of three times, each with four tenses, much like the system that is usually used in EFL, with the exception of Simple tenses being called 'Indefinite'