Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Jun 19, 2006
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Jun 19, 2006 |
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Mentor
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Education Columns - Write Right Tense about tenses
My teacher tells me that I always go wrong on tense. And that makes me tense! Please help.
Ashok R Yes, tenses are the source of much tension. As a learned friend put it: "Tense is like a time zone. You can't be in two time zones even if you are flying in a Concorde." Some of his tips: "Use the past tense for actions that started and ended in the past. Events in the immediate past should ordinarily be reported in the past tense. Events in the more distant past are generally reported in the past perfect tense. Events in the future are ordinarily reported in the conditional tense. You can use the present tense even if the first verb is in the past when it refers to eternal truth/habitual action." As usual with the English language, there are more exceptions that rules. So only constant practice can reduce tens(e)ion Can I think in my mother-tongue and write in English?
S. Sunil You can, but avoid. Or, you must Anglicise it. Else, you will end up with odd usages. For instance, "She gave her a tight slap," or, "I cannot able to do it".
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J. Srinivasan
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