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You may have heard this joke: The past, the present and the future walked into a bar.
It was tense! Although you might not think the joke is that
funny, it highlights the choices we have to make in our writing.
Do I need the past or the present tense? And which form of the verb do I need?
This screencast will help you make those choices. So, here are STUDYSmarter's top three tips
for using verbs correctly: one,know your common tenses intensely;
two, decide whether to use active or the passive; and three, make sure your subjects and verbs
agree. Let's start with knowing your common tenses
intensely. It can be difficult to know which verb tense
to use in assignments, so here is some information on the most common tenses in academic writing:
the present and past. Let's look at the present to begin with.
The two most common forms of the present used in academic writing are shown here.
By present simple we mean verbs such as these. We can see that the present simple indicates
something is set in the current time or is unchanging.
One of the reasons we use this tense is to provide overviews and thesis statements like
this. Secondly, we use it make generalisations or
express ideas that are generally accepted, or to describe rules and established facts.
It can also be used to explain the implications of a study or to refer to other people's research.
In addition, we can use the present simple to express our own idea, opinion or argument.
If we want to comment on figures, tables or graphs, we can also use the present simple.
And finally, we use this tense to write about literary works, paintings, plays and films
as these exist in a timeless present. But what about when the present simple just
doesn't seem to fit what we want to say? Like for example, when something sits between
the past and the present? Here's when we might want to use the present
perfect simple. The present perfect simple combines have or
has with the past participle. Firstly, use the present perfect simple when
you are reporting what you or others have done at an unspecified time in the past.
We can also use it to show something has current significance, relevance or importance.
So we've looked at the present simple for things that are current and unchanging, and
the present perfect simple for things that are located between the past and the present.
Now, let's look at the past simple. By past simple tense we mean verbs that indicate
completion. Often these in end in –ed, but also there
are irregular verbs. This tense has a number of uses.
Firstly, we use the past simple when we state historical facts or analyse historical events.
Next, when we mention findings, conclusions or something completed at a specified time,
we need the past simple. Also, the past simple is used to describe
scientific methods and results. Now let's look at a subtle difference between
the past simple and the present simple when we refer to other people's research.
'James concludes' implies agreement with the author's conclusions.
However, if we want to create distance between our view and the author's, we can say 'James
concluded'. Because the past simple provides distance,
we would tend to use it rather than the present simple if we are going to critique the conclusions.
Our next top tip is decide whether to use the active or passive form of the verb.
Ronald Reagan famously said "Mistakes were made" instead of "I made mistakes".
He deliberately used the passive voice instead of the active voice.
Why did he do that? What's the difference?
We construct the passive voice by putting the recipient of the action first, then the
appropriate form of the verb ‘to be' and the past participle.
Here's another example. The agent who did the action, in this case
the researchers, may or may not be included in the sentence.
We use the active voice to focus on the person or thing doing the action.
So if President Reagan wanted to focus on himself he would have said "I made mistakes".
But he used the passive instead to focus on the recipient of the action: the mistakes.
Therefore, Reagan cleverly avoided taking responsibility for what happened.
The passive voice is common in academic writing and speech for five main reasons.
Firstly, we use it when we don't know who the agent, the doer of the action, is.
But be careful using the passive voice for this reason as your tutor may think you haven't
done your research! Secondly, we use it when the agent isn't important.
In this example we don't know and we don't care who built the building.
Next, we can use the passive when the agent is obvious or previously mentioned.
Because we can anticipate that the police made the arrests, we don't need to include
them in the sentence. We can also use the passive voice to avoid
naming the agent. In this way we can avoid blaming someone or
making an inflammatory statement by using the passive.
Sometimes we use the passive to avoid overusing 'I' or 'we' in academic writing.
BUT too many passive sentences can sound awkward and can make your writing feel flat.
The first sentence here which is active sounds more natural and succinct.
The third and final top tip is make your subjects and verbs agree.
What does this actually mean? Let's take a look at a basic example.
When the subject of a sentence is singular, the singular verb form is used.
When it's plural, we use the plural form. However, sometimes it is not always that simple.
How do we complete the next sentence? When we have a long subject like this, it's
important to identify the central word of the subject.
In this example, the central word is 'results', which is modified by other words.
So we need to use the plural form of the verb to match the central word in the subject.
There are some important things to remember for subject-verb agreement.
As we've seen, it's important not to be confused by long subjects.
Just find the central word and make your verb agree with this.
Second, when we have more than one singular subject joined by 'and', we use the plural
verb. Thirdly, when we have an amount, we need a
singular verb. We also use a singular verb with any of these
words. Finally, when subjects are joined by any of
these verbs, and one subject is plural and the other is singular, the verb agrees with
nearest subject. Here are some examples.
We find the closest verb to the subject, and make the verb agree.
We hope you've enjoyed this short screencast, and remember you can improve your writing
if you know your common tenses intensely, decide whether to use active or passive, and
make your subjects and verbs agree. If you'd like to find out more about our services,
including our workshops, drop-in sessions and study Survival Guides, visit www.studysmarter.uwa.edu.au,
or find us on Facebook and Twitter.