The English Tenses Practical Grammar Guide

by Phil Williams, Bob Wright (Illustrator)

Quickly discover the many uses of the English tenses. How do English speakers use two tenses to mean the same thing? Why do the rules not always apply?

If we can say "I cooked dinner" and "I have cooked dinner" in exactly the same situation, how do you choose? And when is it okay to say "I'm loving it"?

This comprehensive guide to the usage patterns of all 12 aspects of the English language covers all the rules and grammatical forms. The English Tenses: Practical Grammar Guide is ideal as either an accompaniment to core texts or as a full self-study guide. It introduces the reader to flexible uses of the English tenses, with simple, easy-to-follow explanations, colourful examples and enlightening comparisons.

Genres: Writing, Reference, Language, Nonfiction

142 pages, Paperback

First published July 7, 2014

About the author

Phil Williams is an author of fantasy, horror and dystopian fiction, including the Blood Scouts epic military fantasies, the Ordshaw urban fantasy thrillers and the post-apocalyptic Estalia series. He also works as a fiction editor and writes reference books to help foreign learners master the nuances of English, two of which are regular best-sellers on Kindle. As a long-term teacher and tutor of advanced English, he runs the popular website “English Lessons Brighton”.

Phil lives with his wife by the coast in Sussex, UK, and spends a great deal of time walking his impossibly fluffy dog, Herbert.

Reviews

[Peter Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am going through a spate of informal grammar self-education.

I am an attorney and I write for a living, but as a graduate of the California school system, I've always felt a bit insecure about my grammar ability. I am particularly concerned about it when I hear about the "past perfect" tense or the "future imperfect" tense.

What the heck is all that about.

This book was absolutely perfect in my project. The author provides an extremely organized survey of the three tenses - past, present and future - and the four subordinate tenses - simple, continuing, perfect, and perfect continuing. He explains what distinguishes the tenses and provides examples, including charts, of how these verbs are conjugated.

I've been amusing myself since reading the book by identifying tenses in the texts I have been reading. ("Have been" + present participle (reading) makes it a present perfect continuing tense, which normally shows duration, but in this case shows a past action affecting the present, and, most importantly, that this past action happened recently. Seriously, we just do the grammar instinctively, but to know why is most enlightening.)

Obviously, I recommend this highly.

[Ivan Soto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent practical summary of verbal forms in English

The breviry of manual and sharp targetting of the verbal forms and their uses in English makes the manual an excellent resource for learners of English as a foreign language.

[Josoks · Rating 5 out of 5]

i need to read this book please!

[Iago Seleme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice little review of English verb tenses. Just enough information, covers the subject well without being redundant.

[Saria Mirza · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just finished reading this book I really like it.
It's super helpful.

[Luis Enriquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book

It is well-explained and it comes with lots of great information to put into practice with students easily. Highly recommend.

[Earl Grey Tea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just like his book Word Order in English Sentences, Phil Willaims created another helpful reference book concerning the English language. As in my review of his other book, this book would best serve stronger intermediate and advanced English learners or ESL and EFL teachers who are still a bit new to the field. Also, if the book was translated to the native language of the student, it could be a good resource for beginner and lower intermediate students.

I would have to say the best part of the book would be comparisons between different tenses that somewhat similar and can be confusing when to use them. Some of the explanations could help a more advance student understand certain nuances in the English language. While reading this book, the author enlightened me with some explanations of when we use certain grammatical tenses that I subconsciously knew, but never thought about explaining to someone.

For the most part, the organization of the book was quite fair. The first section focused purely on the word order of each tense and the second part focused on the meaning. Maybe this is a better way to organize the information, but it seemed a bit repetitive when similar word order charts appeared in the section concerning the meaning of the different tenses.

To reiterate, this book would be nice to keep on your desk as a quick reference book when you have to explain or prepare a lesson concerning a certain tense in the English language. As a teacher, you would need to dive deeper into other grammar or textbooks to get more details and exercises for the students to use for practice. With that being said, this book is a great starting point when lesson planning. I will definitely keep it on hand as a helpful resource.

[Argum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy of the book from Goodreads First Reads program.

I have always thought that my grammar education was lacking as a native English speaker. Tenses were confusing when we started conjugating verbs in high school Spanish. With that in mind I entered this giveaway. The target audience for this book is ESL students i.e. not me! I feel like the tenses could have been explained in more detail for someone like me wanting to understand a present perfect continuous for its own sake, but that if I was a non native speaker trying to actually figure out how to use such crazy irregular verbs as the English language has to offer with some sort of pattern it would be great.

[Consuelo Murgia · Rating 3 out of 5]

English has been the first foreign language I have learned and now I'm an English teacher, so I always find interesting and useful reading books about the different aspects of the English language.