Grammar

Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-56844-9 - Exploring Grammar in Context: Upper-Intermediate and Advanced Ronald Carter, Rebecca Hughes and Michael McCarthy Excerpt More information

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Part

Tens enses es in co conte ntext xt esent perf ect ect 1 Pr ese ect 2 Past perf ect inuous 3 Pr ese esent cont in

Will or be going to ? 4 Will o f orms a nd ot her te re 5 Be + Be + to f tenses wit h f utu utu r r ef er ence

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Present perfect

A Introduction 1 These t w o ne w s stories use diff er ent tenses. Te x t (a) uses pr esent perf ect (e.g. have spoken , have looked ); te x t (b) uses most ly past simple (e.g. spoke , looked ). The impor ta nt v er bs a re ma rk ed in bold. Why do y ou t hink t he tenses a re diff er ent in t he t w o te x ts?

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a)

b)

Unemployed Terry Fitton has applied for an amazing 2,350 jobs … and he’s still out of work. Terry, 50, has posted applications at the rate of nearly four a day for the past two years.

Superstar Paul McCartney last night watched a heart-stopping sea search for his 15-year-old son James. The ex-Beatle and his wife Linda stood ashen-faced on a beach after the youngster was swept out of sight while surfing. But thirty minutes later they were joyfully hugging James as he stepped unharmed from the waves.

Observ ations ●

Text (a) has a ti me phrase: for the past two years, which sets the ti me as time coming up to now. Text (b) has the ti me phrase last night , which sets the ti me as time finished, separated from now. These can be shown as diagrams: Time coming up to now: has applied / has posted → NOW Time finished, separated from now: watched /stood /was/stepped

NOW

2 Or ga nise t hese phr ases into t hr ee colu mns headed used with past simple , used with present perfect a nd used with either . up to no w

in the last century

during President K ennedy ’s lif etime

ov er the last hundred y ea rs or so since three months ago

f or three months

recently

three months ago

this is the first time I

throug hout the 17th century

since the Vietna m W a r

within the last three months

a f ter the Second W orld W ar

lately

toda y

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B Discovering patterns of use 1 Present perfect in spoken language In t hese pieces of r ea l spok en Eng lish, t he tenses cha nge. ■

In (a), when Pat comments, t he tense cha nges to pr esent perf ect a nd in (b), when Ma ry ta lk s about finding t he bott le-opener , she a lso cha nges tense. Why ?

a) [R oger is a guest at Pat’s house. He is just finishing a persona l g host story , which he has told a ll in the past simple tense, which is norma l f or stories.] Roger: It was definitely there, some figure there, definitely a figure there … Pat: Well, as long as you haven’t brought it down here with you. This is a friendly house, we don’t have an y ghosts here. b) [Ma ry a nd Peter a re in the kitchen. They a re trying to open a bottle of wine.] Mar y: What have we done with the bottle-opener? We found one, didn’t we? Peter: Yeah. ■

Belo w a re some r ul es f or t he use of t he pr esent perf ect a nd t he past simple when no e xplicit t ime phr ases a re used. Tick which one y ou t hink sou nds most usef ul , based on t he g host story a nd t he w oma n in t he kitchen.

Possible rules: i) Present perf ect is f or things that a re v ery r ecent ; past simple is f or things that ha ppened a long t ime ago. ii) It doesn’t matter which tense y ou choose when there is no time phrase. Both a re a lw a ys possible. iii) Present perf ect is used f or things the spea ke r considers importa nt in relation to no w ; past simple is used f or things the spea k er considers as sepa ra ted in his/her mind from no w .

2 Past simple and present perfect in news stories If y ou r ead Eng lish la nguage ne w spa per s, it is usef ul to obse rv e ho w t he t w o tense-f orms a re used in ne w s stories. Look at t his ne w spa per story . ■ ■

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What tense shou ld t he fir st sentence be in? Does it cha nge f or t he sa me r easons as in t he spok en e x tr a cts y ou ha v e just studied? Does it ma k e y ou w a nt to add a ny th ing to t he r ul e y ou chose f or t he use of t he t w o tenses?

1 PRESENT PERFECT


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OUR ROADS THE SHAME OF EUROPE Britain’s motorways [vote] the second worst in Europe, according to a new survey. They are plagued by poor facilities, roadworks and bad signposting, say continental motorists. Only Portugal’s motorways were rated worse than ours. The survey, by rental giant Eurocar, put Germany way out in front, then France miles ahead of the rest – Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Spain, Britain and Portugal.

Observ ations ●

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The examples we have looked at so fa r point to a diffe rence between (a) things that we want to bring to the fo reground and say ‘This is new or important or relevant or connected in some way in m y mind to now ’ and (b) things that we want to report/narrate or simply to say ‘This is not important an y more, or not relevant to now , or I have chosen to separate it in my mind from now ’. Newspaper language is ofte n distinctive. A typical pattern in a news stor y is for the opening sentence to be in the present perfect, and the details of the sto r y to be in the past simple. In the text above, about roads, the ve rb in brackets was have been voted .

C Grammar in action 1 Deciding to use the present perfect Look at t hese e x am ples of spok en la nguage. ■

Why do y ou t hink t he spea ke r s chose t he pa rt i cu la r tense of each v er b in bold?

a) [Cla re a nd Sa m a re brother a nd sister.] Clare: I think I ’ve broken Mum’s hair-dr yer. Sam: How? Clare: Don’t k now. It doesn’t work an y more. b) [ A teacher is ta lking about her class that da y. ] Teache r: I had a bit of a row today and I practised m y shouting in the classroom and Liz reckons m y lesson went r eally really well. c) [Fa ye has a problem with her ca mera a nd Da ve is helping her. The film is stuck ; they discuss whether to ta ke it out.] Faye: I can’t take it out half way th rough and … Dave: Well, have you started it?

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PART A : TENSES IN CONTE X T


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2 Switching between present perfect and past simple In t his e x am ple, why do y ou t hink t he spea k er cha nges t he tense? (The impor ta nt v er bs a re in bold.) See ‘Observ at ions’ belo w f or a ns w er .

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I’ve been going to the weightwatchers, but I went the first time and I’d lost three and a half pound, and I went last week and I’d lost half a pound, so I we nt down to the fish shop and got fish and chips, I was so disgusted. ■

What do y ou t hink t he y sa id? Her e a re some mini-e x tr a cts fr om r ea l conv er sat ions. See if y ou ca n guess which a ns w er B ga v e in t he orig ina l ta pe-r ecor ding.

(R emember t his ma y not be a quest ion of rig ht or wr ong a ns w er s, but what B might ha v e been lik ely to sa y , g iv en t he conte x t. The k e y tells y ou which one B did in f act sa y .) a) A: I live in Exeter. D ’you k now it? Did B sa y: Yes, I was there. I’ve stayed there a couple of days. or : Yes, I’ve been there. I stayed there a couple of days. or : some other combination of the t w o tenses? If so, write what y ou think it w as. b) A: I’ve been to Barcelona for a few conferences, I don’t k now if you’ve ever been? Did B sa y: Yeah, I went to one, yeah. or : Yeah, I’ve gone to one, yeah. or : Yeah, I’ve been to one, yeah. c) A: We make our own pasta. Did B sa y: Yeah, we did that, we started off using recipes, and then we soon discovered it was easier to make it our own way. or : Yeah, we’ve done that, we’ve started off using recipes, and then we’ve soon discovered it’s been easier to make it our own way. or : Yeah, we’ve done that, we started off using recipes, and then we soon discovered it was easier to make it our own way. Observ ations ●

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Speakers use p resent perfect to indicate that a topic is still happe ning, or is still relevant within the conversation: ‘I’ve been going to the weightwatche rs.’ (She is still goi ng ever y week.) Speakers use past si mple to i ndicate that an event is completed. For example, the woman who went to weightwatchers changed to the past simple to talk about the separate past events which depressed her.

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D Follow-up ■

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If y ou ca n buy a n Eng lish la nguage ne w spa per or if y ou ca n get Eng lish la nguage ne w s on radio or TV , ma ke a note of ho w ne w s stories a re reported. Do t he reports use present perf ect at t he beg inning, f ollo w ed by past tenses f or the deta ils, as w e ha ve seen in this unit, in the written a nd spok en ne w s? If y ou w a nt more practice ex ercises, do t he Further ex ercises at the end of this unit. If y ou w a nt f urther deta ils of points relating to this unit, go to t he R ef erence notes section on pages 185–7. Summary ●

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Past simple is used b y speakers to talk a bout past events which are, or which they regard as, finalised, or over and done with. Present perfect is used b y speakers to talk a bout events which are still current, or which they want to highlight as being incomplete or still relevant. Do not use time expressions which suit completed events (e.g. two months ago ) with the present perfect tense. Do not use time expressions which suit current events (e.g. lately ) with the simple past tense. Some time ex pressions (e.g. today , this morning) can be used with either tense depending on the attitude of the s peaker: ‘I’ve seen him this morning.’ (The morning is not finished, and the s peaker saw him at some point in it. Note that you could not say ‘I’ve seen him this morning’ in the afternoon or evening, and be correct.) ‘I saw him this morning.’ (If the morning is not yet finished, then the s peaker is looking back at an earlier part of the morning as if it is com pletely separate from the time of s peaking, for exam ple, before coming to work.)

Further exercises 1 Match each quest ion on t he lef t wit h a su itable a ns w er fr om t he rig ht. Ha ve y ou ev er* been to Mosco w ? Ho w long ha ve y ou been at college? What did y ou do in Oxf ord last y ea r? Ho w ma ny w eek s w ere y ou in Pa ris? What ha ve y ou done at college?

I studied there, actua lly . I’v e studied a lot. I’v e been there three w eek s. I’v e studied there, actua lly . I w as there three w eek s.

* Ever i s simila r in mea ning to ‘up to no w ’.

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2 Some wher e in t hese te x ts, t he tense cha nged fr om pr esent perf ect to past simple. Wher e? ■ Put t he v er bs in br ack ets in t he tense y ou t hink t he writer used.

a)

SAM DIES AT 109 The oldest man in Britain [ die] aged 109 – six weeks after taking the title. Sam Crabbe, from Cadgwith, Cornwall, [not give up] smoking until he was 98 and [ enjoy] a nightly tot* of whisky. He [ be] taken ill just hours before his death.

b)

A WORLD STAGE FOR BRU BORU (an Irish music/dance group) The Bru Boru group [ return] from a most successful engagement at Expo ’92 in Seville. They [ be ] there at the invitation of the Irish Government. In

addition to performing at the many Irish events at Expo, they also [ give] an unprecedented performance at the American Pavilion.

3 No w imag ine ho w y ou mig ht r epor t a ne w s e v ent y ou ha v e just hea rd on t he r adio to a friend who hasn’t hea rd it. If y ou a re in class, do t his wit h a pa rt n er . Her e a re some e v ents to help y ou. What tenses will y ou use? ? …’ You beg in: ‘Ha v e y ou hea rd

a) W oma n in Madrid wins fiv e million dolla rs in lottery . Only buy s one tick et. Loses tick et. Finds it in rubbish bin. Cla ims prize. b) President has hea rt attack . Colla pses during a debate in Pa rlia ment. R ushed to hospita l. c) Can adia n w oma n becomes first person to cross the Pacific Ocea n solo on a ra ft . Only one sma ll sa il. Built it herself . Journey six months.

4 Choose bet w een t he pr esent perf ect a nd past simple tenses f or t he v er bs in br ack ets. If y ou t hink bot h a re equa lly possible, write bot h f orms. a) No w ada ys I ta k e a vita min C tablet ev ery da y. I [do] so ev er since a friend [tell] me it w as good f or y ou. b) I [bu y ] a computer with a DV D/driv e. Y ou must come round a nd ha ve a go o n it. It [teach] me a lot in the f e w w eek s I [ha v e] it. c) I [bu y ] a persona l stereo but I [sell] it to my teenage daug hter as it [look ] silly on me at my age. d) The other nig ht I [hea r] a noise coming from the ga rden. I [not hea r] a ny thing since, but it [ w orry ] me at the time. There [be] a f e w burg la ries round here lately . e) I [not ice] I w as ha ving trouble reading sma ll print so I [go] to the opticia n’s a nd I [ha v e] my ey es tested. She [sa y ] I need reading g lasses. I kno w my ey es [get ] w orse. I think it’s w orking with computers that [cause] it. I wish I didn’t ha ve to use them so much. f ) He a lw ay s ma nages to look so neat, doesn’t he, as if he [ just come] from his ta ilor’s. * A tot i s a sma ll a mount.

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y ou lik e, ta king ca re to choose 5 Complete t hese sentences in a ny w a y a ppr opriately bet w een t he pr esent perf ect a nd past simple tenses. Ev er since I w as a child I … Lately the w eather … During the 1980s, the economy in my country … A: Do you still have your school books from when you were a kid? B: No, m y parents … e) Ov er the last six months I … f ) This is the first time I …

a) b) c) d)

6 What do y ou t hink t he spea k er w ou ld be most lik ely to sa y in t hese miniconv er sat ions? Choose t he most lik ely tense f or t he v er b in br ack ets. If y ou t hink past simple a nd pr esent perf ect a re bot h equa lly possible, write bot h f orms. a) A: A letter, for me? B: Yes. [ A opens letter.] A: Oh! I [ win] two tickets for the U2 concert in London next month! b) A: Where’s that thing you used to have fo r slicing tomatoes? B: Oh, that stupid thing. I [throw ] it away. It was useless. I ’ve got a new one now. c) A: Isn’t she married to a Scandinavian or something? B: Yes, she [marry ] to a Swede, but she ’s married to a New Zealander now. d) A: Who [ write] A Tale of Two Cities ? B: Charles Dickens, I think. e) A: Who [eat ] m y sandwich? B: Oh, I’m sorr y. I thought you didn’t want it. f ) A: I see they [dig] another hole in the road. I wonder what the p roblem is? B: Where? Oh yes, I see it. No, no idea.

g) A: Who [be] the first to get to the top of Eve rest, Hillar y or Tensing? B: Don’t k now.

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U n it

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Past perfect A Introduction 1 In t his e x tr a ct, a w oma n describes being invited into t he pilot’s cabin on a n aer opla ne she w as t ra v elling on:

The pilot said, ‘You can go in the cabin,’ you see. Well, m y mouth dropped open ... you see ... Oh, I ’d had a joke with o ne of the girls, you k now, the stewardess girls, and, maybe it was her. Or there was a young man with us who had bee n in our hotel, maybe he’d said something. Somebody had, an yway. So they took me right into where the two pilots we re. It was absolutely fa ntastic. ■ ■

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Ho w did t he w oma n r eact when t he pilot told her she cou ld visit t he cabin? The w oma n sa y s ‘Somebod y had, a nyw a y ’. Ca n y ou e xpa nd her sentence to help y ou e xpla in t he story ? Underline t he v er bs which a re in t he past simple tense. Use a diff er ent colou r to u nderline t he v er bs which a re in t he past perf ect tense. Which tense is used to t ry to e xpla in why she w as invited to see t he pilots’ cabin?

2 In t he f ollo wing e x tr a ct a not her w oma n describes a n accident in her ca r, when she hit a t ra mp. ■

W ork out which tense t he w oma n used f or t he v er bs which a re in br ack ets. The y a re eit her in t he past simple or t he past perf ect. ( Alt houg h ot her tenses mig ht be possible, w e a re inter ested in what t he spea ke r actua lly used.)

Woman: I wasn’t going ver y fast, you see, I (only just) [turn] the corner ... and there [be] a bit of a li ne of traffic, and then ... Friend: So it was a bit of a miracle he wasn’t hurt, wasn’t it? Woman: Apparently, it [be] his party-piece*, because the police told me that he [do] it ver y often, this, ‘cos it [ get ] him a bed for the night, you k now, it got him in hospital. And they were getting a bit fed up. He al ready [have] them there that morning apparently, saying someone [put ] a bomb under his bed. But the n he picked on me, and it got him a bed for the night in hospital. Friend: Good grief!

*The expression party-piece m ea ns that the tra mp regula rly did this in order to ga in attention.

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Observ ations ●

You have probably learned that the past perfect tense is used i n English to desc ribe events which happened before other events in the past (i.e. that it is p rimarily to do with time and sequences of events). This is a fu ndamental part of learning about the past perfect. However, in this u nit you ca n learn about how speake rs use the past perfect, and the typical clause patterns it is fou nd in.

B Discovering patterns of use 1 Past perfect and explanations In t he e x tr a ct wher e t he w oma n describes her visit to t he pilots’ cabin, w e sa w t hat she used t he past perf ect tense qu ite a lot when t rying to e xpla in somet hing.

Main events of the story

Possible cause of main events

Tense

The pilot sa id, ‘ Y ou ca n ...’

past simple

my mouth dropped open

past simple I’d had a jo k e with one of ... the ste w a rdess g irls ...

past perf ect

y oung ma n ... ma yb e he’d sa id something.

past perf ect

Somebody had (sa id something)

past perf ect

So, they took me rig ht into (the cabin) ■

past simple

A dd a ny r u les which y ou ca n t hink of f or t he uses of t he past perf ect tense.

i) Past perf ect is used to describe ev ents which ha ppened bef ore other ev ents in the past. ii) ... iii) ...

2 Past perfect and clause construction ■

If y ou w a nted to join t he f ollo wing sentences toget her , which con ju nct ions w ou ld y ou use?

but a) b) c) d)

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because

when

as

I w asn’t going v ery f ast. I had only just turned the corner. John ca me round on Sunda y. He only sta ye d about ten minutes. John ca me round on Sunda y. I had promised to lend him a video. I w as out celebrating last nig ht. I’d had my ex am results.



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Grammar

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