Despite shortcomings in Reichenbach's model of tense, it has been the standard introduction for most linguists working on English, German, and Dutch since 1947. "Binary Tense" surpasses that model by reviving ideas that preceded it by almost a century. Instead of the 3X3 matrix used in the standard model, Henk J. Verkuyl presents a 2X2X2 approach that can be applied to a wider variety of languages, including Chinese, Georgian, and Spanish. This binary approach sheds light on the difference between perfect and perfective, the matching of tenses in complex sentences, and many other aspects of linguistics.