Tense Review PDF

01 Tense review Introduction This unit provides an overview of English tenses, focusing on their use in academic English, and on the...

01 Tense review Introduction This unit provides an overview of English tenses, focusing on their use in academic English, and on the areas that can sometimes cause difficulties. 1 Choosing between simple and continuous forms. Painters see things that the untrained eye might easily miss, (present simple) Many countries, both rich and poor, are already seeing the effects o f an ageing population. (present continuous) 2 When to use the present perfect. In recent months vegetable oils have seen volatility in the spot price more reminiscent o f petroleum. 3 When to use the past perfect. The conservation o f endangered species is safeguarded by the world’s best zoos, whose scientists and staff have successfully reintroduced species to areas where they had died out. 4 The various future forms. Harrison argues that more countries will be entering the European Union over the next ten years and, as Read the text and then try to name the verb they do, greater tensions will arise between the richest tenses used. Can you say why each tense is and the poorest. used? For centuries, people on sea coasts around E3BB1 the world 'have hunted whales. From the ilii; 1 Present simple and continuous page 007 mid-nineteenth century onwards, with the || 2 Past simple and continuous page 008 p| 3 Present perfect (and past simple) page 008 advent of modern factory ships, the annual II 4 Past perfect (and past simple) page oio worldwide catch increased until i t 3reached a III 5 Future page 010 peak in the 1960s. A rapid decline 4followed, however, because the plastics industry 5had Other units that deal with tenses are unit 9 Passives, invented substitutes for most of the products unit 11 Modal verbs, and unit 17 Conditionals. of the whales carcass. The whale-hunting that 6takes place today 7is mostly done for food. 1 _____________________________________ 2,3- 4 --------------------------------------------------- 5--------------------------------------------------------- 6 ,7 ------------------------------------------------------ Suggested answers: see page 189 006 01 Tense review tm Present simple and (tip State verbs such as believe, know, mean; like,prefer, want; belong, own, possess; contain, depend, and matter continuous are usually used in the present simple. The Church Commissioners’report indicates that the 1.1 study Church of England is-ewnmg owns around 120,000 In academic writing and speaking, the primary use of acres of rural land. rhe present simple is for factual descriptions. Almost a billion people arc-speaking speak Mandarin, the official language o f the People's Republic o f China. 1.1 test yourself When you heat a substance, its particles move faster, Circle the correct option. and so collide more frequently. 1 Boston College looks for/is looking for an international marketing manager for their This includes: ► overseas recruitment drive. 1 describing regular activities 2 Social enterprises can be defined as those which 49,000 people arc entering enter the underground are placing/place environmental concerns station at Waterloo every day during the three-hour alongside profit. morning peak. 3 Monetary policy is operating/operates by influencing the price at which money is lent. 2 describing processes (often in the passive in academic 4 Smartphones are establishing/establish English) or giving instructions (in the active) themselves as the dominant mobile device The fabric is then washed, dyed, and cut into patterns. amongst younger consumers. Then you wash the fabric, dye it, and cut it into 5 David Hare's plays, as Felton (2009) notes/ patterns. is noting, provide actresses with some of the strongest roles in modern drama. 3 summarizing or reporting the main arguments of 6 According to the Broadcasters’ Audience other academics. Research Board, the average Briton watches/ Steele explains that survivors o f tragic events often is watching just over thirty hours of television undergo periods o f guilt. per week. (See page 143 in unit 16 Paraphrasing for more 7 Most people are recognizing/recognize that a examples of reporting verbs.) respect for the law is the fundamental basis for a civilized society. 4 talking about the plots of books, films, etc. 8 When a team works/is working intensively on Brooklyn by Colm Toibin tells the story o f Ellis Lacey, a project, the team leader should protect them a young woman who is sent by her family from Ireland from distraction. to the USA to get a good job. 9 Stevens argues that consumers these days are The present continuous is used to describe events preferring/prefer to do business with companies or actions that are happening at the moment that have environmentally-friendly policies. (now or around now). These might be continuous 10 Babcock suggests that attitudes to work events/actions or a series of regular events/actions. amongst young people are changing/change. Kayston pic is advertising for a new CEO after Hugh Alexander's sudden departure. Chinese construction companies are securing a number o f major contracts to rebuild Ethiopia's infrastructure. They include temporary situations and trends in society or the world around us. Kingston Enterprises, which is currently operating from premises in Wandsworth while its new factory outside Cambridge is being completed, is one o f the UK's leading manufacturers o f computer hard drives. More people are shopping online these days, and the service standards that consumers expect are rising. 01 Tense review 00? O B Past simple and continuous 1.2 test yourself 1.2 study Circle the correct option. If both are possible, circle both. The past simple is used, often with dates, times or places, for finished events, whether they are long, 1 At the moment when the earthquake was short, or repeated. striking/struck, most people were sleeping/ The Mughal Empire was controlling controlled a large slept. part o f India for more than 300 years. 2 Phillips asked/was asking her subjects to watch Boo.com was launched in the autumn o f 1999 as an clips of people smiling, and measured their online clothing retailer. The company then spent $35 heart rate afterwards. million o f venture capital in just eight months, but 3 During the 18th century, merchants would/ went into receivership on 18 May 2000, one o f the used to transport their goods around England most spectacular failures o f the 'dotcom' era. by canal. During the summer o f 2010, Theatrespace was putting 4 Audi used to launch/launched its new family m put on a new show every week for twelve weeks. saloon in 2010. 5 At the time of the crash, high street banks were In the second example above, three separate events investing/invested in some very risky products. occurred, one after another, so the past simple was used. 6 The yacht White Tiger made/was making But if events overlap or 'interrupt' one another, the past excellent progress when an unusually high wave continuous is used for the longer, 'background' event. destroyed/was destroying its mast. Brooks Brothers o f New York performed was performing reasonably well when the takeover bid came from Marks and Spencers. O B Present perfect (and past A t the time o f his death, Einstein was still working on his attempt to unify the laws o f physics. simple) Note, however, that state verbs (see tip on page 007) 1.3 study are not normally used in the continuous form. The present perfect is the tense that connects the past As an alternative to the past simple, you can use used and the present. In the example below, the present to and would + infinitive without to to refer to habitual perfect is used to describe 'the very recent past up actions and events in the past. until the present’ - with the focus on the present. Before the Clean Air Act o f 1956, London used to/ In acquiring Duogame, Gamesmaster pic has become a would suffer from severe air pollution known as major player in the UK computer games market. ‘smog’, a combination o f smoke and fog. If the past simple was used, the focus would be on Portland Zinc would used to mine most o f its supplies 'when' (i.e. a finished moment in the past), and we in Brazil. It shipped/would ship the ore from Sao might include a date. Paulo to processing plants further up the coast. In acquiring Duogame, Gamesmaster pic last week Note that in the second example above, you could became a major player in the UK computer games replace used to by saying something like Portland Zinc market. mined most o f its supplies in Brazil in the 1950s, or Portland Zinc once mined most o f its supplies in Brazil, The present perfect is the tense to use to describe but you cannot use would until a past context has been people or things as they are now (present focus) in established. terms of their experience in the past. The province o f Alsace has changed hands several Note also that would is not normally used with state times in its history, which explains its cultural verbs, and that used to is not used with numbers of heritage. months, years, etc. Compare the example above with a sentence beginning Pampas Products would used to own a subsidiary Alsace changed hands in 1848 and 1872,... which in Florida, but it was obliged to sell it to recoup its focuses less on the present nature of Alsace and more losses during the recession o f the early 1980s. on specific events in its history. The company's headquarters uscd-to be were located in Berlin for eight years. 008 01 Tense review You can use the present perfect and the past simple to [TIP As a general rule, contracted forms such as present different aspects of the same subject. I’ve been looking at... are normally avoided in written In 2005, scientists measured a land temperature of academic English, but may be used in presentations, 70.7°C in the Lut Desert o f Iran, (past focus) seminars, etc. (See unit 4 Beingformal and informal -+ No higher temperature has been recorded on earth for more information on what is acceptable in a formal since then, (present focus) context.) —> This is the only time scientists have recorded a temperature above 70°C. (present focus) 1.3 test yourself Note how just is used with the present perfect to Complete each sentence with the present perfect emphasize that an action is recent. or past simple form of the verb in brackets. A team o f Russian scientists has just completed a 1 New research indicates that scientists five-year study o f the behavioural patterns o f three ____________________________ (discover) Siberian wolf packs. a potential cure for some forms of dementia. In academic writing, the present perfect is useful for The key finding_________________________ referring to earlier studies or to generally accepted (make) two months ago by a team working theories in expressions such as: Studies have shown for Dr Julia Davidson. th a t..., It has become accepted that..., Mathematicians 2 Construction companies__________________ have proved th a t... ___________ (build) a new village outside (See page 127 in unit 14 Hedging for more ways of Perpignan for the past three years. referring to the work of others.) 3 Thousands of UK citizens_________________ ___________ (emigrate) to Australia to start You can also use the present perfect to summarize the a new life in the 1950s and 60s. One of them arguments you have made up to that point in an essay _______________________ (write) an account or presentation. in 1976 th a t_______________________ The first part o f this report has outlined the way (just/film). in which one-way road systems can be beneficial in 4 Currently editor of The Weekly Business Digest, reducing traffic congestion in town centres. Now, Wendy Crozier__________________________ some o f the disadvantages will be considered. (have) an interesting career. It _ _________ ___________ (start) in 1976 at the BBC. The present perfect continuous is used to highlight 5 Research_______________________________ the length of an activity (often with for, since, so far, (demonstrate) that people can delay the onset up until now, all year, etc.). of Type 2 diabetes by losing weight. General Motors has designed has been designing its G A million Chinese people_________________ new family saloon for the past six months. ___________ (move) to Africa in the past (in a presentation) The problems that I ’ve been twenty years to take advantage of new business looking at so far can all be resolved by an increase in opportunities. More than 250,000 Chinese the general level o f funding. immigrants_____________________________ (arrive) in South Africa alone since 1994. You can also emphasize the effects that the activity has had on the present situation. Neither company has much cash left because both have been investing heavily all year in a new plant. Note again that state verbs are rarely used with the continuous form. 01 Tense review 009 Q 0 Past perfect (and past 1.4 test yourself simple) Correct each sentence by adding hod. 1.4 study 1 The team of scientists just left the laboratory when the fire broke out, so there were no The past perfect is used to talk about a past event injuries. which happened before another past event. 2 James Lott described the trip as a failure as Trade union representatives returned (past) to they expected to discover at least three new the talks on Friday 17 May, but by this time the species of insect. management team withdrew had already withdrawn 3 The regiment made a successful case for all (earlier past) their offer. those who participated in the rescue voyage to G & M Business Machines lost a significant receive the Distinguished Service Cross. percentage o f its market share between 2004 and 4 Petroleum Products finally admitted that crude 2 0 10 because it hadfailed to anticipate the growth in oil been leaking from its tanker for more than a Chinese demand. week. 5 Many companies signed contracts with The past perfect is commonly used: competitors by the time Holliwell Carlease 1 after past simple forms of verbs connected with offered them the new Fiat. speaking or thinking such as admit, agree, believe, 6 The government denied that they announced claim, confirm, deny, know and realize the new proposals before they were ready. A number o f MPs claimed that Tony Blair had misled Parliament during the debates over the Iraq war. Most observers agreed that the merger had taken O B Future place too quickly. Professor Bernard knew immediately that her team 1.5 study had made a significant discovery. There are a number of ways of talking about the future using the following words and structures: will, be going 2 in relative clauses to, and present tenses; the future continuous and The report concluded that no side effects were perfect tenses; be (due) to, be about to, etc., and the apparent in the patients who had received low doses 'future in the past’. o f the new medicine. 1 Will, be going to and present tenses 3 in third conditional sentences I f the company’s accountants had submitted the tax Will and be going to can often be used interchangeably return by the due date, GM Holidays would not have with no change in meaning. Will, however, is much been fined. more commonly used in written academic English than be going to. 4 in past situations where plans did not succeed. The President will/is going to spend two days in Researchers had hoped to complete their study by Moscow, before travelling on to Oslo. 20 10 , but found that they did not have sufficient data. The chairman o f the enquiry had wanted to question Be going to is more natural when announcing General Armstrong, but the General’s legal team a plan in spoken English, or when describing the refused to cooperate. announcement of a new initiative in written English. May I start my presentation? Thank you. I-will I ’m The past perfect continuous is used in the same way going to talk about water conservation today. as the present perfect continuous - to highlight the A group o f private universities in Germany is going to length and effects of an activity. introduce a fast-track medical degree course next year. The haulage company was prosecuted when health and safety inspectors were able to prove that some of In the above examples, you could replace be going to its employees had been driving for up to twenty hours with the present simple or present continuous form without taking a break. of a verb such as intend to or plan to (A group of private universities in Germany intends/is intending to introduce...). 010 01 Tense review The present continuous may be used as an alternative Be (un) likely to or certain to + infinitive are normally to will for fixed arrangements, and the present simple used to express probability. can be used for schedules. The government is unlikely to announce new reforms The UK is hosting/will host a summit in December to to the House o f Lords until after the next election. discuss the international response to global warming. The theatre company begins/will begin its tour in In discussing the history of an event, you may want to Chicago in May. use 'future in the past' with past forms of be to (was/ were to), be about to (was/were about to), will (would), Will is normally used after verbs that express and be going to (was/were going to). uncertainty about the future such as doubt, expect, President Obama was to attend the opening event, but hope, and think. a security alert changed the situation. Some critics expect that the new scheme will fail quite Keirston pic was about to go bankrupt when a new quickly through lack o f public support. order from Japan came through. The CEO ofSpector Products realized in 2007 that 2 Future continuous and perfect tenses the economic situation would get worse. Some local communities were going to hold street You can use the future continuous (will + be + -ing parties to celebrate the royal wedding until they form) as an alternative to will + infinitive without to to discovered that they were legally obliged to get emphasize what will be happening at a specific time in permission from the local authorities. the future. Two British astronauts will join/will be joining the Was/Were to can also be used with be or prove to Russian team at the space station in October. emphasize the importance of a past event or action on future consequences. When you describe a future activity that will already The opening o f a series o f branches in the USA was be in progress at a specific time in the future, however, to prove/was to be an expensive mistake for the UK you must use the continuous form. retailer, Bourke and Mason. By this time next year, it is possible that Bailey and Sharp will export will be exporting more o f its tractors to China than to EU countries. 1.5 test yourself The future perfect (will + have + past participle) and Circle the correct option. If both are possible, future perfect continuous (will + have been + -ing form) circle both. are used to say that something will happen or be 1 Tesco doubles/is going to double the number of achieved before a specific time in the future. its hypermarkets in China by 2020. Many commentators believe that six or seven o f the 2 Government cuts mean that life will be/will smaller American merchant banks will have gone into have been difficult for many people over the receivership by this time next year. next three years. In a year's time, Railton pic will have been operating 3 The establishment of an office in New York in in China for a quarter o f a century. 2009 was to prove/would prove to be a very successful move for the UK TV company. 3 Be (due) to, be about to, be (un) likely/certain to 4 If everything goes to plan, at 14.16 this afternoon, a minute after starting his engine, The present tense of the verb be + to + infinitive Andy Green will be driving/will drive faster is used as an alternative to will to express formal than anyone has driven before. decisions, plans and requirements. Be due to is used in 5 Some economists argue that India is to/will a similar way. outperform China in the long-term. The UK and Argentina are to/are due to sign a new 6 The new law on the advertising of cigarettes will trade agreement in January next year. take/takes effect in April next year. You can use be about to + infinitive to describe ? All of the parties would/were about to come something that will happen in the immediate future. to an agreement when news broke of a new Be on the point o f + -ing form is used in a similar way. rebel attack. Scientists are about to test the prototype o f a scheme 8 A major new aerospace factory is opening/will to cool parts o f the atmosphere. (= Scientists are on open in Sunderland in February. the point o f testing...) 01 Tense review Oil