Interchange Level 2 - Unit 9

Unit 9 - Back to the future.

Verb tenses receive a lot of attention in English instruction—in fact, they receive perhaps more attention than any other aspect of grammar.

And with good cause: there are thirteen verb tenses in English, if you look at tense as ways to discuss time. The English-speaking world is obsessed with time and its passage: clocks of various types are ubiquitous in most English-speaking countries; a watch is still considered a fine gift marking the passage into adulthood; tardiness is frowned on, and so forth. This value of time may be why so much attention is given to verb tense instruction: given our obsession with time, we need a way to talk about it. So the attention to verb tenses is not the problem. The concern is student papers coming in, even after weeks of drill in the simple present and past, missing all of the “-ed” “-s” endings. Teachers often shrug and say “It’s developmental.”

That may be so, but it begs the question of whether drills in verb tense make sense if students aren’t “developmentally ready” for the material anyway. I suspect, however, something else is going on—there is a problem with the sequence of instruction. Rather than plowing through simple present, then simple past, and simple future, because supposedly these are easier to learn, I suggest all of the present tenses be taught together, then all of the past, and then future. Why should the tenses be taught in this manner?

Put the verb tense in context

Language learning, like learning in general, occurs in relation to other learning. The simple present tense is best learned in relation to the present continuous: “I drive a car every day, but I am not driving right now,” demonstrates the contrast between the simple present and present continuous: a habitual activity rather than one engaged in at the moment.

Introduce students to the system

Give students an overview of the entire verb system in the different time frames. The purpose of this is not to get students to learn or memorize the material right away but to get an overview of this variety of tenses and see how they relate to each other. I find it helpful to put the time frame across the top of the board or handout and the aspect down the side:

	Past	Present	Future
simple	I walked.	I walk.	I will walk.
continuous	I was walking.	I am walking.	I will be walking.
perfect	I had walked.	I have walked.	I will have walked.

Students will get an overview of the various tenses with a chart like this. I keep it simple on a chart like this, whose purpose is just to introduce students to this complex system, not addressing for now variations of these basic tenses like the perfect progressive: I have been walking. I also use a regular verb to model the tenses, such as “to walk,” whose variations and inflections are easier to teach and remember: “—ed” for past, for example. I also try to use intransitive verbs, or verbs that don’t require a direct object, like “walk,” when introducing the verb tense system, so focus can stay on the verb. If I used a verb like “to throw” to introduce verb tenses, students would have to focus on the irregular forms of the verb “threw,” “thrown,” and also consider a direct object that makes sense.

watch this video about tenses...

Conditional Sentences with If Clauses.

There are four basic types of conditional sentences in the English language. 

Examples: 

The zero conditional: I take my umbrella if it rains.

The first conditional: I'll call you if I work late.                                 

The second conditional: If the bus didn't arrive on time, I would drive you to the airport.          

The third conditional: She wouldn't have come if I hadn't invited her. 

Grammar rules with examples

►The zero conditional describes situations that are always true. If has the same meaning as when orwhenever.

If I go to school, I get up at seven. (Whenever I go to school I get up at the same time.)

If you park your car on double yellow lines, you pay a fine. (Whenever you park illegally, you pay a fine.)

We use the present simple tense in both the main clauses and the if clauses.

► The first conditional sentences are used to speculate about possible situations that can really happen at present or in future.

We do not use will in an if clause to describe future activities (compare it to time clauses).

If he studies hard, he'll pass the exams. If we catch the 10.15 train, we will arrive on time. If you don't get the ticket, what will you do?

We make if clauses with if + present tense and main clauses with will + bare infinitive. 

► In the second conditional sentences we speculate about situations that will probably never happen at present or in future.

If I had more time, I would help you. (But I am not free at the moment. I can't help you).

If I won a million dollars, I would start a business of my own. (But I know that it is not realistic.)

We make if clauses with if + past tense and main clauses with would + bare infinitive.

Note: the verb to be can be specific in the if clause.

If I were rich, I wouldn't work. If he were younger, he would marry her.

(But was is also possible: If I was rich, I wouldn't work. If he was younger, he would marry her.)

But: If I were you, I wouldn't do it. (In this expression, were is much more usual than was.)

► The third conditional sentences always refer to the past. We speculate about situations that happened or did not happen in the past.

If I had won a million, I would have started a business of my own. (But I didn't win anything.)

If he had met her, he would have told her. (Unfortunately, he didn't meet her.)

If we hadn't practised, we wouldn't have won the match. (But we practised and won.) 

We make if clauses with if + past perfect and main clauses with would + perfect infinitive (have + past participle).

Songs using conditionals (If clauses).