Gaining mastery of the English tense-aspect system remains challenging for university ESL learners. They may have academic writing needs and a need for proficiency given work-related purposes. We developed shortcuts that reflect the shared conceptualizations of the main tense-aspect grammar rules, based on ontological structures of time and happenings. These have allowed students to efficiently understand the main workings of the system, and to facilitate appropriate use of the English tenses while developing self-correction skills.