If you work in an international environment, you need some tips and ideas on communicating effectively in English - in meetings, in presentations or just at the coffee machine . Have a look at some of my publications here and sign up to be on the list. You'll get an email with useful tips a few times a month!
English tenses are easier than you imagine
Hi Reader,
Do you feel that you don't know when to use all the different tenses in English? Maybe you feel that you should be using some of them much more than you do.
It's one of the key issues that people I work with have: you learnt English at school where you learnt a lot of different tenses, and now you have forgotten or you're worried that you're not using them correctly. Does this sound like you?
Today I'm going to present to you some scientific proof that you need to stop worrying about tenses!
(Before we get to that, are you looking to improve your fluency in English for work? Why not join our Programme Boost starting in September?)
I'd like to show you this research from Uthman Alzuhairy that shows how often each verb tense was used in academic writing. It's important to know that academic writing is much more formal than any kind of speaking, so the more complex tenses (like the present perfect) will be used even less in speaking.
There was some other research carried out by Biber and Reppen, that shows that in conversation, it's nearly always the simple aspect which is used (simple aspect is the present simple, past simple and simple future will).
So what is the conclusion to this?
Concentrate on using the present simple, past simple and future simple correctly. And if you need help to speak more fluently, why not join our Programme Boost starting in September?
(You can also watch my video about the past simple and present perfect here:)
Have a nice day!
Catherine
Hi! I'm Catherine, the founder of A Star Formation
If you work in an international environment, you need some tips and ideas on communicating effectively in English - in meetings, in presentations or just at the coffee machine . Have a look at some of my publications here and sign up to be on the list. You'll get an email with useful tips a few times a month!
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