1. Why do we care about the aspect? Aspect helps to better clarify the meaning of a sentence. What is the difference between the following sentences? He spoke English when Dina came into the room. He was speaking English when Dina came into the room.
2. In the first sentence, the activity was already in progress when Dina came in. In the second sentence, the activity began when she came in.
3. Perfect tenses Perfect tenses are used when showing a relationship between two tenses. Think about the differences between the following sentences. Max finished his homework when his mom came home from work. Max had finished his homework when his mom came home from work. Marta has eaten at that restaurant for many years. Marta ate at that restaurant for many years.
4. Progressive Tenses Sometimes you can use either the perfect or the perfect progressive. The meaning is basically the same. This is especially true when you use verbs such as live, work, study, and teach with for or since. She has studied elephants for two year. She has been studying elephants for two years. In both cases, she started studying elephants two years ago and she is still studying them.
5. Keeping the same Time Frame When writing, it is important to be consistent with your time frame. Read the following paragraph. I attended an interesting lecture last night. It is about the effect of pollution on the environment. Students will ask the professor a lot of questions. Unfortunately he didn’t have time to answer all of them. Can you find the two time frame errors? Click below for your next activity. You will need to keep the same time frame, but use different aspects.
