Flawless English: February 2017

Tuesday 21 February 2017

The tenses line

Hello everyone!

In today's entry I will try to make you learn (well, revise or clarify) something about verb tenses. During my years of experience, I have noticed that many students have problems with verbal tenses. This may be due to several reasons. However, today I want to focus on the problems you may have when hesitating between one tense and another because you don't know for sure where you need to place the action in the line of time. As this can be a very abstract notion, I have tried to clarify it through this drawing which I call the Tenses Line.

I find this way of reviewing the tenses really visual and practical and it has usually worked for my students and that is why I would like you to know how it works. First of all, the line is divided in Past, Present and Future sections, each one of them written in a different colour to activate photographic memory. Then, if a verbal tense is Simple we will only find a line; however, if it is Continuous we will find a little rectangle to show that it is an action that takes some time to be done. If you take a good look at Will, you see the line is broken, and I decided to put it that way because we do not know if this action is actually going to happen or not.

After this explanation I want to make a little summary of the verb tenses. Please, take into account that this is an explanation for beginners!

1) Past Perfect Continuous: we use it to talk about an action that happened before another action in the past. If we use this tense we want to emphasize that the action took some time to be done. Some words that you may find with this tense and actually, all the perfect tenses, are just, already, never, ever, yet, since, for.

Ron had been reading this saga before the teacher recommended it.

2) Past Perfect Simple: It is similar to the previous one, but in this case we do not want to highlight the time the action took to be done.

I had already seen the film when she told me about it.

3) Past Continuous: we use this tense to talk about an action that was developing in the past. Some words that you may find with this tense are at this time (yesterday, las week...).

At this time yesterday, Marta was reciting a poem.

4) Past Simple: we use this tense when we want to talk about an action that took place in the past. Some words that you may find with this tense are yesterday, ago, last (week, month, year...).

Yesterday I read my favourite book.

5) Present Perfect Continuous: it is used to talk about an action that started in the past (that is why the line begins in the past section) and continues in the present or to talk about a past action whose consequences are palpable in the present. Same as before, this tense adds the emphasis of time.

The author has been writing detective stories lately.

6) Present Perfect Simple: this tense is used in the same was as the previous one but without emphasizing duration.

Berta has bought 15 novels this year.

7) Present Simple: we use it to talk about habits, routines, preferences, timetables and so on. Some words that you may find with this tense are always, usually, often, rarely, seldom, hardly ever, never...

Tom usually goes to the teather once a month.

8) Present Continuous: we use this tense to talk about an action which is happening at the moment or we can give it a future meaning to talk about arranged plans. Some words that you may find with this tense are at the moment, tight now, now...

Right now, Bella is organising her bookshelves.

9) Be going to: we use it to talk about future plans and also to make predictions with present evidence. Some words that you may find with this tense are next (week, month, year), this (summer, month...).

In the summer, I'm going to acquire the book's special edition.

10) Future Continuous: we use this tense to talk about an action that will be developing at some time in the future.

Tomorrow at this time, Lucy will be doing her literature exam.

11) Will: we use will to talk about future predictions without present evidence and also to make spontaneous decisions. Some words that you may find with this tense are in the future, in X years...

In the future, books will have holograms.

12) Future Perfect: we use it to talk about an action that will be finished in the future.

By this time next year, Samara will have read all the stories by Edgar Allan Poe.

So that is the end of it, a piece of cake, isn't it?

Saturday 11 February 2017

Wardrobe or closet? Differences between British and American English.

Hello everyone!

It's been a while since the last time I posted something but these have been busy weeks for me. In today's entry I would like to talk about some differences between British and American English. Sometimes, when speaking we hesitate between one word and another. You don't know if you should say I've just seen a fantastic movie or I've just seen a fantastic film. But it is the same, isn't it? Well, it is the same but to a certain extent. None of the sentences is wrong and we have to keep that in mind. However, the difference is in the English you are speaking: American or British.

As everything in life, we have to be coherent and consistent when speaking, writing and so on. Thus if we are performing a discourse in British English it is not coherent to say I got lost in the highway, when we should say I got lost in the motorway, because it would be the same as introducing a word typical from Catalonia in a Valencian discourse. The word would be probably correct but the Valencian speaker would notice there is something fishy in that sentence.

In my opinion, the problem we face here is that sometimes we don't know when we are using an American or a British word. But why? I think it is because at school, high school or any other academic field we are usually taught British English. However, if we watch films or series we often tend to listen to American English. That is why you might not understand the sentence I put it in my wardrobe but you do know the meaning of I put it in my closet. Most of the films and series or TV programs we see are American (or at least that is my case), but at school we are usually taught British English and maybe that is the reason why we rather spell certain words in British English but introduce some American words in our speech. If you knew that information you might not face the problem I'm talking about. Nevertheless, if you don't know about it, you may be using the "right" word but in an inappropriate context.

That is the reason why I found this infographic so interesting, because it shows the differences between American and British words in a visual way and it doesn't only point out the difference between words but also the spelling of some words which are written differently in America and in England.

I hope you find it as appealing as I did and remember that whether you choose to speak American or British English it is okay, but be coherent!

British vs. American English: 63 Differences (Infographic)

Source: www.grammarcheck.net

By the way, if you want to practise your listening of either American or British English here I leave a list of some of my favorite films and series you can watch to be aware of the differences between one and another. (Click on the links to be directed to a film's synopsis, I don't want you to spend hours watching a film you don't enjoy!)

American English films:

1. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)

2. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)

3. The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)

4. The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson, 2001) (actually, I recommend the whole trilogy, extended version)

5. Finding Neverland (Marc Forster, 2004)

British English films:

1. CLEARLY, the whole Harry Potter saga (Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell & David Yates, 2001-2011). (Yes, I'm a Potterhead)

2. Man On Wire (James Marsh, 2008)

3. We Need to Talk about Kevin (Lynne Ramsay, 2011)

American English series:

1. The Walking Dead (2010)