Must-Read: Tenses (Part 3)

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Must-Read: Tenses (Part 3)

Teacher Rowena

Has 25 years of experience teaching English to adults, HKALE/HKDSE candidates, and students of various levels

Founder of the Double R Amalgam method (www.doubleramalgam.com)

Author of the Penguin Buddies and Double R Kids-Professions series

Provided after-school English support programs for secondary schools and developed grammar curricula for upper primary levels using Double R Amalgam materials from 2017 to 2019

In the last issue, I shared how teaching arrangements can help learners better understand the uses and differences of various tenses. In this issue, I will discuss the final key: examples. Apt examples can often effectively deepen a learner's memory of tenses. So, what makes an example suitable?

A suitable example must meet three conditions: (1) Easy to understand—relatable to daily life; (2) Memorable—striking enough to cause immediate resonance; (3) Relevant to the learner—it can be about things that happened in the past, present, or future.

I choose different examples to teach students of different age groups. When teaching secondary students or adults, I like to use a sentence everyone loves to hear: "I love you," to make comparisons. First, I ask students to imagine a scenario: "Imagine your future partner is a foreigner and you decide to propose, but your grasp of tenses is only superficial. You use 'I will love you, please marry me!' and 'I loved you for a long time, please marry me!' to express your love." I believe those who understand tenses will surely smile at this.

The Impact of Misusing Tenses

To the listener, tense verbs express time and meaning. The "will love" in the first sentence, "I will love you," is in the future tense, implying that the speaker has not yet performed the action. If you don't love them yet, why would they marry you? As for the second sentence, "I loved you," the "loved" is in the past tense, implying the action is completed—meaning your love for them has ended. Why would they marry you? Everyone should know that what the other person wants to hear is, "I love you, please marry me!" because "love" is in the present tense, carrying a sense of permanence or habit. Since marriage should be for a lifetime, the present tense perfectly reflects this need.

In the actual teaching process, I explain the characteristics and differences of each "love" tense one by one to ensure students grasp the true purpose of each tense. I want them to understand that using the wrong tense is not just a grammatical error, but can also lead to unnecessary misunderstandings. I have now shared the three key factors to mastering English tenses: time, arrangement, and examples. I hope this helps readers improve in their study of tenses.

I love you, please marry me!