BÀI GIẢNG DẠNG VĂN BẢN (SCRIPT)

Môn học: Đọc Viết 2 – Reading and Writing 2

BÀI 1: Psychology

Chủ đề 1.2: Writing skill and Grammar skill

Phần 2: Grammar skill: Shifts between past and present time frames

Slide Nội dung

1 Hello everyone. This video is about grammar skill: Shifts between past and
present time frames. When should we have a shift from past to present time
frame or vice versa? Watch this video and find the answer.
2 At the end of this lesson, you will be able to shift between past and present
time frames correctly.
3 A written essay or passage begins with a specific time frame, such as past,
present, or future.
Sometimes writers use one time frame for the entire passage, but often they
shift or change time frames.
Writers shift time frames according to what they are describing.
Ex: I was terrified of the forest. Looking back, I think my fears were
unwarranted.
The writer uses past simple “was” to describe how he/she felt about a certain
situation in the past, but he/she shifts from past to present “think” to describe
how he/she feels now.
4 So, how can we shift from past to present in our narrative essay?
✓ Writers often use the simple past to begin a story or set the scene.
For example: A few months after the Half Dome climb, I decided to climb Mt.
Whitney in California.
✓ Writers use the past perfect to describe things that happened before the
events in the story.
Ex: Secretly, I wanted to do something significant to help change the image
that my friends and family had developed of me.
✓ Writers use the simple present to describe things and give certain facts
or information.
Ex: Half Dome’s shape is unforgettably distinctive because it’s broken.
5 Now, look at this example.
Which one is NOT correct?
1. The instructor explained the diagram to students who asked questions
during the lecture.
2. The instructor explains the diagram to students who asked questions during
the lecture.
3. The instructor explains the diagram to students who ask questions during
the lecture.
The answer is statement 2 is NOT correct because the shift from present to
past is illogical.
6 One more example.
Which one is CORRECT?
1.The children love their new tree house, which they built themselves.
2.The children loved their new tree house, which they built themselves.
3.The children love their new tree house, which they build themselves.
 Statement 1 is CORRECT.
(Love is present tense, referring to a current state (they still love it now;) built
is past, referring to an action completed before the current time frame (they are
not still building it.)
7 Now, read the short passages. Write present if the passage uses only a present
time frame. Write past if the passage uses only a past time frame. Write
present/past or past/present if the passage changes time frame.
You have about 2 minutes to complete this task.
8 (After 2 mins) Have you got answers? Let’s check.
1. Past/present
2. Past/present
3. Present
4. Past
5. Present/past
9 OK, now complete each sentence using a different time frame. You should
finish this task within 5 minutes.
10 Alright, these are some important notes about controlling shifts in an essay.
The general guideline is that you should establish a primary tense for the main
discourse, and use occasional shifts to other tenses to indicate changes in time
frame.
Here we’ve got some hints:
❖ Rely on past tense to narrate events in a narrative essay.
❖ Use present tense to state facts, to refer to perpetual or habitual actions,
and to discuss your own ideas or those expressed by an author in a
particular work.
❖ Future action may be expressed in a variety of ways, including the use
of will, shall, is going to, are about to, tomorrow and other adverbs of
time, and a wide range of contextual cues.
11 Now go online for more practice with shifts between past and present time
frames.