Learn Some Tenses

Tenses play a pivotal role in effective writing: they highlight the time sequence of events. In other languages, for example, the Chinese language, there are no tenses; time sequence is indicated simply by using adverbs (words that describe or modify the verbs in sentences), such as "today", "tomorrow", "now" , "last week" , "soon" and "later."

First of all, learn the present tense and the present continuous tense.

Use the present tense to indicate an action that is factual or habitual. Examples of the present tense are as follows:

• I like hamburgers. (factual)
• He eats like a pig. (habitual)
• She enjoys ballet. (habitual)
• Obama is the President of the United States. (factual)
• They go to that church every Sunday.(habitual)
• We love Italian food. (habitual)

Use the present continuous tense to indicate an action that is happening or going on at this moment, or an action that will happen very soon. Examples of the present continuous tense are as follows:

• He is eating like a pig. (now he is eating like a pig, although this may not be his habit of eating)
• She is enjoying the ballet; don't disturb her! (she is paying all her attention to the ballet at this moment)
• They are going to that church right now. (they are ready to go now, or they are already on their way to that church)

Notice the difference in the following two pairs of sentences:

We shall leave when we are ready. (the action is in the future)

We are leaving soon. (the action is also in the future, but the present continuous indicates "very soon")

She plays the piano. (she is a pianist, or she can play the piano)

She is playing the piano (she is at the piano right now)

To learn how to write better, read my book Effective Writing Made Simple.

To learn about tenses, come back for more.

Stephen Lau