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WebEnglishClub.com and ImparareInglese.co.uk offer you the chance to win a Skype English lesson worth €25!

The lesson includes:

• a 30-minute English lesson via Skype in your own home or office, you choose when and where!
• an audio-recording sent to you via e-mail after the lesson, so you can listen again as many times as you like
• written feedback – our teacher will write down your mistakes, new words, lesson content and e-mail you a .pdf after the lesson

What will my lesson be about?

Your lesson could be about anything you choose. Just tell us at the time you book the lesson whether you want to do:

• conversation (the teacher will correct your mistakes)
• preparation for an exam or job interview in English
• explanation of a particular grammar or vocabulary area
• help with your English homework
• help with English you need for your job
• or anything else!!

How to win your FREE Skype English Lesson

To win a FREE Skype English lesson, all you have to do is post in our competition forum (you need to be a member and logged in).

Yes, you have to WRITE SOMETHING!

You can write about anything you want, but it has to be in English.

It doesn’t matter if you make mistakes…. the winner will be the writer of the MOST INTERESTING POST by Saturday 5th May.

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For more information about Skype English Lessons, visit our shop.

What is the Secret of the Multiple Choice Cloze test? (Otherwise known as Part 1 of the First Certificate Use of English paper.)

Find out in Week 4 of our First Certificate Study Group.

And hey! I know from the website stats that about 100 people a day are viewing this site. But how many of you post in our forums?

I’m getting very bored with so many reading but so few writing… Please come and talk to me in The English Pub!

Daniel

WebEnglishClub.com

Week 3 of the First Certificate Study Group is now LIVE! Join students from Italy, Mexico, the UK and maybe some other places in preparing for the FCE exam in June…

http://webenglishclub.com/courses/first-certificate-in-english-study-group/fce-study-group-week-3/

Grammar Impossible?

Learning a foreign language is always hard. But some languages have grammar that seems impossible.

In English, perhaps you have problems with the perfect tense forms.

Your teacher explained them. You memorised the rules and did the exercises. But do you understand them, really?

Probably not.

How could it be so difficult? English children learn to use and understand tenses, so surely students can too?

Perfectly Simple?

The three perfect simple forms are constructed with the “have” auxiliary, and the past participle. Like this:

1. “I hadn’t done my homework so the teacher was angry with me.” (Past Perfect)
2. “Have you ever been to Britain?” “No, never.” (Present Perfect)
3. “I will have finished all my money a long time before the end of the month!” (Future Perfect)

HAD DONE
HAVE DONE
WILL HAVE DONE

That’s not so complex, is it? In fact, the FORM of these tenses is simple to construct and use.

But Remember: Languages are All Different!

Not all people are the same. Some are tall, some short, some fatter, some thinner. Some female.

Languages vary too. The grammar, for example, can be very different. Some languages make little use of tense at all. Some, like English, depend on “tenses” a lot more.

The three perfect tense forms in English are examples of the “Perfect Aspect”. Some languages have it, some languages don’t.

English does, obviously. But does your language? If not, OF COURSE, you’ll find it difficult when learning English. Your language can communicates the same basic ideas, but in different ways.

The Perfect Aspect in Italian

I live in Italy, and speak some Italian, so let’s compare English and Italian!

Italian has an equivalent of the PAST perfect, and of the FUTURE perfect:

1. “Non avevo fatto i compiti, quindi il prof c’è l’aveva con me.”
3. “Avrò finito tutti i mei soldi molto prima del fine del mese!”

But the present perfect? There’s a form which looks similar:

2. “Sei mai stato in in Inghilterra?” “Mai.”

It’s called the “passato prossimo” (“near past”), but it could be translated using EITHER the past simple or the present perfect, depending on the context.

So, in fact, what looks the same, is NOT THE SAME AT ALL. Or at least, it’s similar only 50% of the time.

The passato prossimo is a trap! It’s a big hole, just waiting for Italian students of English to fall into it!

What about your language? Does it have tense forms which are equivalent to the perfect forms in English?

Or maybe there are forms which look the same, but are used differently some or all of the time?

Or no similar tense forms at all?

It would be easy to get confused!

Thanks for the Explanation

Another reason why the perfect tense forms have a bad reputation are the “explanations” found in course books.

There are lots of ways to “explain” the meaning of these tense forms to students, but the “meaning” of a tense can seem different according to the verb and the context in which it is used.

That is to say, often the explanation is too simplistic. It might be unhelpful. Or simply wrong.

Sometimes, the best explanation, is no explanation at all. Or at least, the most minimal explanation possible.

Sometimes students need to learn to look at or listen to the grammar and think:

“What does this tense form communicate in this context?”

The Minimalist Explanation of Perfect Tense Forms!

So here’s the minialist explanation of perfect tense forms.  Guaranteed not to confuse you more than you are already confused!

Don’t worry, being minimal, it won’t take long to read. There’s just one “rule” to remember. And there are no exceptions!

Ready?

The Perfect Aspect communicates: “Before”

When we use the perfect aspect with a verb it tells us just one thing:

“Before” a “Reference Point”

The reference point is “now” for the present perfect form.

The reference point is a future or past action or time, for the past and future perfect forms.

Waiter, Bring me an Example!

Enough explanations. Now some examples:

“I‘ve done it”

means:      ”Before now. I. It. Do”"

I had made her angry”

 means:       “I did something before which made her angry”

“Don’t worry, I will have finished in time”

 means:       “Before that future moment, I will finish.”

Is That All?

But what about all of the OTHER meanings in my grammar book?

Ignore them.

The perfect aspect communicates just the one idea (see above!). Everything else, you have to understand from the context.

All the “rules” you’ve learnt are just interprepations of “before”.

But the meaning is always “before”, no matter what it says in your book.

Another Example, Please

Still not happy? Have some more examples!

“I‘ve studied this lots of times”

(“When? Well, BEFORE now, of course.”)

“Scientists will have found a cure for cancer by the end of this century”

 (“When? Like I said, BEFORE the end of this century!”)

“Before reading Daniel’s post, I hadn’t realised this was so simple.”

(“When? BEFORE I read the post, as I said.”)

See? The “perfect aspect” means “before”.

What’s not to understand?

Are You Taking Notes?

So, here’s what you have to remember:

1. Tense forms are probably different in English and in your language. Don’t expect them to be the same. Sometimes they might be, but often not. Life is complicated.

2. The REAL secret of “learning” tense forms in English or any other foreign language is not the “learning” or the “rules”, but practice. You need to do lots of reading and listening in English, so you “just know” what comes naturally.

If you read a lot in English and listen a lot to English then, after a while, you’ll understand.

And if you don’t, you probably won’t.

Next week..

Next week I’ll tell you about the continuous tenses in English…

Now I want to know what YOU think!

Are perfect tense forms in English difficult for you?

What English Grammar do YOU find difficult to understand?

Leave a comment below!!

Week 2 of the First Certificate in English Study Group opens 12 hours earlier than promised, because I’m leaving for my Easter holiday tomorrow morning!

If the weather’s not too bad, I’ll be sailing in Rimini (on the Adriatic coast of Italy). If it’s raining though, I’ll be at the computer as usual correcting your homework.

By the way, guys… Where IS your homework?????

(The FCE Study Group is FREE but you need to be a member of WebEnglishClub.com)

The First Certificate FREE Study Group is now open! Week 1 is from TODAY until next Thursday (5th April).

This 10-week study programme has everything you need to prepare for the First Certificate in English exam in June 2012.

Get it here.

Are you studying or about to study for the First Certificate in English (FCE) or the Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) exams this June?

Need some free materials?

Need help from an expert teacher?

Need a study plan?

Need some friends in the same situation????

On Friday 30th March we open two FREE Study Groups. There will be a teacher available to answer your exam questions, free materials and advice, and a weekly study task with exercises to do.

In fact, a free online course to help you pass your exam!

Visit our “Courses” page to find out more. See you Friday!

Sorry it took a month to produce, but Natalia, our video expert, had terrible problems reducing the content of a 60 minute session down to a 4 minute video…

Consequently, it’s only a taster – to find our more about English Verb Tenses, read the whole presentation on our “downloads” page (you’ll need to be a member and logged in to access it.

And if you have questions or comments, add a comment to this post, or start a conversation in our forum!

It’s finally ready! The video of our recent seminar “Become a Master of English Pronunciation” is available from today on Youtube, or you can watch it here…

The video only shows extracts of the many things we talked about, so if you’d like to know more, download the whole presentation from the downloads page (don’t forget, you need to be logged-in to see the download links).