Page 125 - How to write effective business English your guide to excellent professional communication by Fiona Talbot

114 How to Write Effective Business English

Verb: to work (regular verb) simple present tense:

● I work
●
● you (singular and plural) work
●
● he, she, it works
●
● we work
●
● they work
●
simple future tense:
● I, you (singular and plural), he, she, it, we, they will work
●
simple past tense:
● I, you (singular and plural), he, she, it, we, they worked
●
There are naturally many more tenses that you will need to study
in depth and dedicated grammar resources will help you. That said,
there is one tense that seems to present a real workplace problem
that businesses often ask me about. It is the present continuous
tense.
This is formed by using the present tense of ‘to be’ with the pre-
sent participle of the verb in question. Let’s say I want the present
continuous tense of ‘to write’. The forms are:

I am writing
you (singular and plural) are writing
he, she is writing
we are writing
they are writing

The question I’m so often asked is: when do we use the present
continuous rather than the present tense? The answer is in three
parts:

● ● When the action is taking place now (‘I am writing this sentence
at this very moment.’).

● ● When the action is taking place now but also is carrying on into
the future (‘I am writing this book at this very moment – but
also over the coming months.’).