The verbal group: tenses

Basic English Grammar Module: Unit 2B. Independent Learning Resources
© Learning Centre University of Sydney. This Unit may be copied for individual student use.
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In countries X and Y women are mainly responsible for purchasing and preparing food for
their family and their decisions largely influence the health and well-­‐being of a broad section
of the community. Therefore, women were considered the target group for this program.

1.
Why does the writer use the simple present tense in the first sentence?
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Text 2: The Research Paper:
A research paper is a highly structured piece of writing as is an essay, with each section
in the paper having a clearly defined purpose and a number of stages. A general pattern
of tense choices throughout has been observed:

Section

Purpose of stage

Tense choice
Introduction
•
introduce general topic to be
discussed
•
discuss previous research
•
identify aims and objectives
•
state hypothesis
simple present/present
perfect
past/present perfect
simple present or future
simple present
Materials and Methods
•
describe how experiment was
carried out
simple past passive
Results
•
describe what was found
simple present and
simple past
Discussion
•
explain what is significant
from the results
simple present
simple past
present perfect
Conclusion
•
make generalisations
simple present
In the research paper we looked at the writer uses the present tense mainly in the
Introduction and the Discussion.
In the Introduction the writer uses the present tense to state what is generally held to be
true and then to exemplify it:
The suggestion has been widely accepted as reasonable, since these compounds break down
readily, initiating chain reactions as they do so and forming various products that are
potentially toxic. For example, lipid peroxides denature serum -­‐ lipoproteins (2) and attack
the SH group of proteins (3). When vitamin E-­‐deficient rats are fed a diet rich in
polyunsaturated fats, lipid peroxides appear in their adipose and muscular tissues (4);
similarly, it is thought, unsaturated lipids present in atherosclerotic arteries