Tense is one aspect of English grammar that often leaves us confused. Tenses can be broadly categorised into past, present, and future in connection with a situation, action or state. It is with tenses that many errors are committed.
Being weak in grammar poses a great challenge to our language, especially while writing. This often becomes a major handicap, and, can also be a blow to your self-confidence and esteem.
Nowadays most communication is through writing, be it courtesy mails, proposals, invoices, quotations, invites – everything needs to be written. So people who are into advancing their careers, their businesses, and those on the lookout for personal enrichment have no choice but to polish their grammar, especially the tenses.
So what do we do?
First of all figure out: Can you continue with the level of English you have now? Is it absolutely necessary that you improve? If the answer for the first is a ‘no' and for the second it is a ‘yes,' then this is the next step.
Things that you would need:
Will, dedication, and an open mind
One hour set aside everyday for a minimum 30 days, exclusively for investing in yourself; a quiet and bright room with no interruptions; mobiles switched off a daily, weekly and end of the month lesson plans; time frame; a weekly assessment of the progress; a reputed and popular book on tenses (without Malayalam translations); a notebook; pencil and eraser; Print-outs of tenses activities and worksheets from Google – 1,000 nos; a mentor who will guide and correct you; and most importantly, as you learn and work, it is important and essential to read aloud. This will give you practice and increase your comfort level with tenses.
(The writer is a transformation expert and can be contacted on
babita@persona24carats.com /www.persona24carats.com)
