Ron's ESL Blogs

When we talk about something that happened in the past, we use the past tense. However, there are also times when we use the past tense to express something else.

a). To express a wish
A wish is not something that happened in the past, but we need to use the past tense.
e.g.
I wish I had a car. (I do not have a car.)
He wishes he won the lottery.

In the above sentences, the past tense has nothing to do with the past time.

b). In the sentence pattern “It’s time …”
When “It’s time” followed by a clause, the past tense is used in the clause.

e.g.
It’s time we left.
It’s time we took design seriously.
It’s time you sold your old car.

Here we are not talking about what happened in the past. If I say “It’s time you sold your old car.” to you, you still have your car, and you are driving it.

c). To show politeness
Sometimes we use the past tense because we want to be polite. The past tense is more polite than the present tense.

e.g.
I wonder if you can come to dinner tonight.
I wondered if you could come to dinner tonight.
I was wondering if you could come to dinner tonight.

If you are inviting a friend, you use the first sentence. If you are inviting your boss, you probably will use the second or the third sentence. The third, the past progressive tense, is even more polite than the second.

d) In the “if” clause

We use the past tense in the “if” clause, if something is not a fact, or it’s unlikely to happen.

e.g.
If it rained tomorrow, I would not come. (I think it will rain tomorrow.)
If I got a raise, I would throw a party. (I don’t believe I will get a raise.)

When we use the simple present tense, it means that we believe it will happen.

e.g.
If it rains tomorrow, I will not come. (I don’t think it will rain tomorrow.)
If I get a raise, I will throw a party. (I think I will get a raise.)

Generally speaking, the past tense is used to express the past time, but there are special uses of the past tense. We need to pay attention to these special uses in learning English.

- Ron Lee

My Favorite Food 

 My mother always cooks special food for special occasions. She usually chooses to cook the small snails with coconut, that is my favorite food, but the first time I hated it.

 When I was eight years old, I didn’t eat seafood because I didn’t like the smell of it. One day, I visited my aunt’s house outside of the city. There was a big river in front of her house, and my cousin dived in and caught a lot of small snails for her to cook dinner for me. They smelled disgusting. When she cooked the small snails with coconut for one hour, they smelled delicious and tasted good. Until now, I still love it. One New Year and my parents invited all of my close relatives to spend the day with us. I decided to help my mother to cook my favorite food. When I got up, my mother had been in the kitchen since sunrise. She had already begun to cook but she forgot something. I had to go the market to pick something up for her such as vegetables, small snails and coconut. When I came home, my mother said “there are a lot of things, I haven’t finished yet, so the small snails with coconut is your responsibility.” My mouth dropped open but my mother said “no dice”. I had never cooked it before, but there is a first time for everything. First I have to chop off the head of the snails and put them into salt water for 15 minutes, it would help to remove the sand. While waiting for the snails, I went to wash the Vietnamese coriander and ground it. Then I prepared the coconut milk. Finally I mixed the dressing for the snails (a mixture of coconut milk, Vietnamese coriander, and salt.) and I cooked it for one hour. It was five o’clock in the evening. It was almost time to eat so I went to set the table. My mother had finished her work. And we went to our room to change into our good clothes. When most of my relatives had already arrived and everyone sat down at the table. I brought my dish up and they put the small snails into their mouth and each took one slurp. Everyone said my dish was very delicious and nice tasted.

 In conclusion, everyone enjoyed my dish. I’m very happy they love it like I do. If you have time you can come over and I will cook it for you to try. You will love the small snails with coconut the same as me.

The present continuous tense is usually used to express something that is happening right now.
e.g.
I am listening to music.
He is smoking now.
However, the present continuous tense is frequently used to express the future.
e.g.
I am cleaning my house this weekend.
I’m picking up my sister at the airport tomorrow.
I’m seeing the doctor this afternoon.

From these examples, we can see that the present continuous tense can be used to express both the present and the future. The meaning is determined by the time phrase used. If “now” or “right now” is used, it means something is happening right now; if a future time phrase is used, such as “tomorrow,” “next month,” the meaning is that something will happen or will be happening in the future. Sometimes, there is no time phrase. The time is understood in the context.