How to Master English Verb Grammar

By Elena Foulkes

Are you confused by the difference between the Present Simple and the Present Continuous? Or between the
Present Perfect and Past Simple?

By the end of this article everything will be much clearer.

A famous Italian, Vilfredo Pareto, defined the 20:80 cause and effect rule: twenty percent of causes produce
eighty percent of effects. In terms of English grammar 20% of misunderstandings in verb tenses cause 80% of
mistakes and problems.

We are going to focus on the twenty percent of concepts that will influence 80% of your ability to speak English.

This means that if you focus on the four key English verb tenses that you need to understand and use correctly,
this will greatly improve your mastery of the English language.

This article will show you how to use these four tenses correctly.

First the good news.

Four reasons why English grammar is easy

1. No future tense
There is no future tense in English just different ways of talking about the future.This means that there are
only really eight verb tenses you need to remember in English. According to Wikipedia there are at least
fifteen verb tenses in Italian. Also, we have no congiuntivo in English.

2. Almost no verb conjugation

With French you need to carry around a Bescherelle of verb conjugation rules and exceptions. In English
there is almost no conjugation there are a small number of exceptions you have to remember for verbs in
the present, past and past participle forms.

Verb conjugation in many languages, including Italian, depends on things like the person, number, gender,
tense, aspect, mood and voice. In English you only have to worry about tense and aspect (more on that
later).

3. Italian and English have the same grammar forms

The Italian verb system is not very different from the English one. There are auxiliaries in English, just like in
Italian there arent, for example, in Slavic languages. There are present and past participles, subject
pronouns (although Italian doesnt use them as much as English), and the notion of past, present and future
in languages like Chinese and other Asian languages, you have to infer the time you are talking about from
the context.

4. If you can master four verb tenses, the rest are easy
There are only four key verb tenses which are particularly problematic when you study English: the Present
Simple, the Present Continuous (also known as progressive), the Present Perfect and the Past Simple.

Once youve mastered this critical 20%, all the other verb forms, including the conditional and future forms, are
relatively simple.

Before we explore these key verb tenses in detail, we need to understand the difference between the tense and
the aspect.

The English verb tense/aspect system

Tenses refer to time, the past, present and future.

Aspect refers to how the speaker views an event or action in relation to time. The aspects in English are simple,
continuous and perfect.
 Each tense combines with all 4 aspects, so we have 12 combinations in total

The Simple and Continuous aspects

To talk about an activity or event happening right now, at the moment, today, this week, this month, this year,
etc., you have to use the Present Continuous in English.

The Present Continuous for events happening now

The English Present Continuous describes an event, activity or situation that is happening now, or around now:
Im having lunch with clients. Can I call you back?
Im working on a really interesting project at the moment.
Were reviewing all our company processes this year.

So, in reality, you dont use the Present Simple to talk about the present

The Present Simple is not simple. Its one of the most confusing tenses to understand when youre learning

English, but if you get this one right, the rest is easy.

Using the Present Simple correctly is important

As a non-native speaker of English you can make yourself understood without using the correct auxiliary or word
order when you ask questions. But dont you want to make a good impression? A bella figura? If you can master
the rules for using the Present Simple correctly, your English will sound 80% better.

We use the Present Simple to make generalisations, to talk about truths, to express opinions, to talk about
routine or cyclical events. Without it we would not be able to discuss philosophies, concepts and theories.

5 reasons why the Present Simple is not simple

1. The Present Simple is not for talking about the present

Incredible, absurd, crazy but true! We use the Present Simple to talk about facts, general truths,
generalizations and routine.
I dont work for Siemens any more. Now I work for Procter and Gamble.
I often go to the mountains for the weekend.
The plural of sheep is sheep.

2. Subject pronouns are not optional

You must always use a subject pronoun (I, you, he, she it, we, you, they) always, no exceptions, even in
questions and negatives in all tenses.
I drive to work. Do you want a lift?
Its 3 oclock in the morning
He says we leave at six.

3. You need to use an auxiliary verb in questions and negatives

The auxiliary do is used to make questions and negatives, but not positive sentences.
Do you like wine? I dont drink alcohol. I love Italian wine.
When the main verb is the verb to be, you dont use the auxiliary do in questions and negatives.
How old are your children? They are 8 and 10. They arent old enough to travel alone.

4. Word order is important and not flexible

In general, rules about word order in English are not optional or flexible for example, adjectives always go
before nouns. Always. Word order tells you if you are asking a question or making a statement.
Pay attention to the exact order of the subject, auxiliary and verb in the negative and question forms.

Positive:
You travel to work by train.
= Subject + verb

Question:
Do you travel to work by train?
= Auxiliary + subject + verb

Negative:
You dont travel to work by train.
= Subject + auxiliary + not + verb
We often use adverbs of frequency with the Present Simple, such as always, often, sometimes, rarely, never, etc.
Again, the word order is not flexible.

Positive:
You always travel to work by train
= Subject + adverb + verb

Question:
Do you often travel to work by train?
= Auxiliary + subject + adverb + verb

Negative:
He doesnt usually travel to work by train
= Subject + auxiliary + not + adverb + verb
5. You must add an s to verbs in the 3rd person singular
In the 3rd Person Singular of the Present Simple, we have to add an s (or es) to the verb; in questions and
negatives, the auxiliary do becomes does.

I walk to work, you take the bus to work, but he drives to work.
How do you get to work? How does he get to work?
It seems redundant, and designed to complicate things, but it is not optional.

Native speakers of English sometimes speak ungrammatically and make mistakes, but they never, ever forget to
use this s. How do they know how to do this? Because they all do it, they grow up listening to people speaking
and pick up the habit of using this s. You need to develop the habit as well.

NOTE: Its not sufficient to write the s on 3rd person singular verbs in the Present Simple, you also have
to pronounce it. English is not like French, where the s at the end of a word isnt always pronounced you have
to pronounce them all, in the 3rd person singular and in plural nouns.

Going back to the 80:20 rule, the difference between pronouncing the s and not pronouncing it might seem
unimportant to you, but to a native English listener, you will sound 80% better, more fluent and more competent.

To summarize,

its important for Italians to remember that there are clear and important differences in English between
the Present Simple and the Present Continuous. In Italian you can use the simple and continuous aspects
interchangeably but not in English.

The Present Simple is not simple. There are five key points to remember:

1. the Present Simple is not for talking about the present

2. dont forget subject pronouns
3. use the auxiliary do in questions and negatives
4. word order is not flexible
5. dont forget the s at the end of 3rd person singular verbs

Understanding the Present Perfect

In English we dont have two tenses to distinguish between the recent and distant past. We use the Past
Simple to talk about things that happened five minutes ago or 100 years ago. We use the Past Simple to
emphasize that the action is finished, past, over.

Sometimes, but not always, verbs in the Past Simple are anchored to the past with expressions like five minutes
ago, five hundred years ago, yesterday, this morning, last year, etc.

I have already eaten.

Dont be fooled by this apparent similarity. They are NOT the same. This mistranslation leads you to make two
types of mistake:

The 2 typical mistakes with the Present Perfect

1. The first common mistake:

WRONG: My first job was in Spain. Ive worked there for a year.
CORRECT: My first job was in Spain. I worked there for a year.

WRONG: I am* arrived this morning

CORRECT: I arrived this morning

*NOTE: the auxiliary for the Present Perfect is only and always to have.
Here you are using the Present Perfect to talk about something that is past, finished, over, done. You need to use
the Past Simple here.
2. And the second common mistake:

WRONG: I live in Milan all my life.

CORRECT: Ive lived in Milan all my life.

When the period of time youre talking about started in the past and includes the present, sometimes indicated
by time expressions like up to now, since, so far and lately, you need to use the Present Perfect.

Your focus is not on the exact point in time when the action or event happened: but on the period of time that
you refer to and what youve accomplished (or not).

The time period is important, not when the event happened

2 key things to remember about the Present Perfect

You use the present perfect to talk about periods of time that connect the past to the present. The period of
time is still current, still happening, NOT over, not finished.

The two most important things to remember about the Present Perfect are:

1. Be careful. It looks similar to the Presente Perfeito, but we use the Past Simple to talk about the past: I
went to university in Rome, NOT Ive been to university in Rome.
2. Italians use the present tense to talk about things that are still true, ongoing, unfinished: Moro aqui h 9
anos. In English you have to use the Present Perfect to express this: Ive lived here for 9 years.

The Present Perfect vs the Past Simple

Heres a simple 3 question checklist to decide when you need to use the Present Perfect or the Past Simple:

1. Is the time-period referred to ongoing? Still happening? PRESENT PERFECT

Ive worked in four different countries. Ive been trying to call you all morning. So far, Ive found 5
mistakes.
2. Are you referring to a specific moment in the past? PAST SIMPLE
I bought this car in 2003. I gave it to you five seconds ago.
3. Are you referring to something that is no longer true or ongoing? PAST SIMPLE
I worked for Siemens when I lived in Germany. John Lennon was one of the Beatles.

Time is the key

Understanding what information you are emphasizing, and what time frame youre talking about is key to
knowing when to use the Present Perfect or Past Simple.
Here is a graphic summary of some of the different time expressions you use with the Past Simple, the Present
Perfect and the Present Continuous. It shows time expressions which are unique to each tense, for example, last
year, so far and at the moment, or associated with two of the tenses, for example, recently and today.

The time period that YOU SELECT determines which verb tense you must use

You can also see how the Present Perfect provides a bridge between the present and the past.
Now, time to put it into practice

Its not enough to read about how to use these key tenses now you need to practice them! If you use the four
key English verb tenses correctly, people will understand you more easily, and youll sound much more fluent up
to 80% more!

Lets summarise what youve learned:

1. The 4 key English verb tenses are: the Present Simple, the Present Continuous, the Present Perfect and
the Past Simple.
2. We use the Present Simple and the Present Continuous to express very different ideas the Present
Continuous is for talking about the present time, now. The Present Simple is for talking about general truths
and routine.
3. The Present Simple is not simple there are 5 things you need to remember to use it correctly, such as
the s at the end of 3rd person singular verbs.
4. The Present Perfect looks very similar to the Presente Perfeito, but in reality its very different. In English
we only use the Present Perfect to emphasize activities and events that happen in time periods that stretch
from the past to the present.