Archive for the ‘ESL Grammar’ Category

I love dancing and would never decline this invitation, especially if you ask like Yul Brynner. It wouldn’t hurt if you come with your own ballroom either.

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But under any other circumstances, shall makes me wince. It’s a word that makes you sound either foreign (not necessarily a bad thing) or pretentious and archaic (not a good thing). Shall is used in England and in law.

English use

In England, shall can express the simple future for first person I and we, as in “Shall we have dinner together tonight?” Will is used in the simple future for all other persons. Using will in the first person expresses a bit more determination on the part of the speaker, as in “We will finish this project by tonight, by golly!” Using shall in second and third persons would indicate some kind of promise about the subject, as in “This shall be revealed to you in good time.”

If you use shall this way in Canada or the US, you write with an accent. It’s not a word we use. On this continent, we use will for the future simple tense.

Legal use

Lawyers love to use shall, but the plain language community recommends avoiding it. According to Prof. Joe Kimble of the Thomas Cooley Law School, lawyers regularly misuse it to mean something other than “has a duty to.” It has become so corrupted by misuse that it has no firm meaning.

Also, it’s not plain. Nobody uses shall in common speech. It’s one more example of unnecessary lawyer talk. You’d never hear, “You shall finish the project in a week.”

And from Plain Language, the US government site: The word “must” is the clearest way to convey to your readers that they have to do something. Shall is one of those officious and obsolete words that has encumbered legal style writing for many years. The message that shall sends to the reader is, “this is deadly material.” Shall is also obsolete–when was the last time you heard it used in everyday speech?

Besides being outdated, shall is imprecise. It can indicate either an obligation or a prediction. Dropping shall is a major step in making your document more reader-friendly. Don’t be intimidated by the argument that using must will lead to a lawsuit. Many agencies already use the word must to convey obligations. The US Courts are eliminating shall in favor of must in their Rules of Procedure.  And in Canada, British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba have amended their Interpretation Acts to say that must is to be interpreted as imperative.

The way I see it, dancing is imperative, and shall is not. Shall we dance?

My sort of sister-in-law Jane speaks English as a foreign language. She’s just finished a course that taught her business skills—she learned how to interview for a job, write a resume, give a presentation and speak better English. (Really, there’s nothing wrong with her English.) She told me her instructor advised the class to, “NEVER use the word can. Instead,” she said, “use may.”

Hmmm. Never is an awfully long time and to me always (also a long time!) raises a red flag. The instructor appears to be like one of those annoying grade school teachers we’ve all had, who, when you asked “Can I please go to the washroom?” would say condescendingly, “I don’t know if you can, but you may.” We learned quickly that the fastest way to get permission to go without being humiliated was to say “May I please go to the washroom?”

Traditionally, may is used to ask permission. Can is used to express ability.

May I have a cookie? Yes, you may.

Can you do a push up? Yes! I can do 20 push ups! (We wouldn’t say May you do a push up?)

But in everyday speech, we use can to make a request. We are understood when we say, “Can I have a cookie?” In fact, the meanings of these words do overlap. We use can to indicate ability, possibility, permission and a request. May indicates permission, probability and a request.

According to the Merriam Webster site, “Can and may are most frequently interchangeable in senses denoting possibility; because the possibility of one’s doing something may depend on another’s acquiescence, they have also become interchangeable in the sense denoting permission. The use of can to ask or grant permission has been common since the 19th century and is well established, although some commentators feel may is more appropriate in formal contexts. May is relatively rare in negative constructions (mayn’t is not common); cannot and can’t are usual in such contexts.”

Okay okay, if you’re writing to a stickler prescriptivist, use may when asking permission. After all, if you want something from them it’s best not to annoy them, even if they annoy you. And if I’m in a super formal situation, I might be inclined to prefer may to can when asking permission. But unless I find myself talking to the queen, it’s hard to imagine a situation that formal.

“It’s a tricky point, when to use simple present and when to use the progressive, especially as simple present rarely refers to present time. The Greenbelt

While the simple present refers to general truths that include the present moment, the present continuous emphasizes action in the present moment.

Here’s how you form it:

I am running.
You/We/They are running.
He/She/It is running.

I am not running.
You/We/They are not running.
He/She/It is not running.

Am I running?
Are you/we/they running?
Is he/she/it running?

While the simple present uses temporal references such as always, frequently, usually, often, or every month, the present continuous is more specific. It uses temporal references such as at the moment, now, today, this week, this month, tomorrow, next week (for future arrangements ), or currently.

The present continuous has three main uses:

1.  Speaking of something happening at the moment of speaking

What are you doing now?

I am calling in response to an brochure I received last week.

I am looking forward to taking on the lead role for the administration of the IOF system. (also I look forward to…)

Mrs Lo is not suffering from a psychiatric impairment arising from the motor vehicle accident.

Whose account are you working on?

2. Expressing actions happening in a period around the present moment especially when you want to emphasize the present moment

He’s spending the summer in Newfoundland.

I can return Lou’s call as soon as I’m finished writing this email. (or …as soon as I finish writing this email.)

I am including revised shipping instructions.

“Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on. “ Samuel Butler

“No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.” W. H. Auden

“Success is blocked by concentrating on it and planning for it… Success is shy – it won’t come out while you’re watching.” Tennessee Williams

“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.” George S. Patton

3. Describing future plans and arrangements

We’re having leftovers this evening.

What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?

She isn’t coming on Friday.

Conventional ways to use the present continuous in business writing include

describing current situations and ongoing projects

The Canadian economy is recovering.

We are updating our servers this quarter.

Ted Passmore and Charone Powell are transferring the files to a 30 gig drive, which we will ship to Mantor.

We are presently trying to determine how payroll burden should be applied to overtime hours.

I am writing in reply to your August 6 letter, in which you requested information about Policy 12965. (Extremely formal.)

To serve you better in the future, we are currently upgrading our system.

referring to temporary situations

We are offering a 20% discount this summer.

Able Airplanes is hiring engineers to help them build the six new jets ordered by the Ministry of Defense.

describing trends, developing situations, progress

The number of email users is growing every day.

These buyers are looking for a wide range of products that only a variety merchandise show such as the Canada’s Merchandise and Clearance Expo can provide.

I am in the process of completing the first document for the Windows 7 Menu/Policy project.

If so, join the club. Lots of people get nervous when they hear terms like ‘present perfect’ or ‘future progressive.’ What does it mean? In case you want to know, here’s an overview of the twelve English verb tenses.

In a series of upcoming articles, I’ll be delving deeper (that was future progressive!) into each of the twelve tenses.

What exactly is a verb tense? When you make a statement, you usually have to indicate if you are referring to a situation that exists now, existed in the past or will exist in the future. You will often need to indicate the duration of the action, event or situation. Is it momentary or enduring? You may also need to clearly show the temporal relationship of actions, events and conditions that comprise a situation you are explaining.

A verb expresses the time of an action, event or condition by changing its form. Verbs are helped in this function by temporal references, auxiliary verbs, and modals.

The following chart shows the subtle differences among the 12 English verb tenses.

The following chart of temporal references from the English Grammar Handbook at the Athabasca University site is helpful for seeing the subtle time differences between the verb tenses. It’s a good way to see at a glance which tense you need to express your idea. Notice that there is some overlap between the tenses.

I notice many people don’t know how to use verb tenses, so here is the first of a series on the subject. Let’s start with the present tenses. The present tenses refer to action taking place in the present, to a state of being, to an occurrence in the very near future, and to action that occurred in the past and continues into the present.

The simple present (or present simple) is the most basic, most common verb tense.

Here’s how you form the simple present:

I/You/We/They dance.
He/She/It dances.

I/You/We/They do not dance
He/She/It does not dance.

Do I/you/we/they dance?
Does he/she/it dance?

The simple present has three main functions.

1. Expresses facts and generalizations, including rules of nature. You can use the simple present to state a fact without a time reference.

In this case, you are describing or inquiring about a settled state of affairs which includes the present, but where the time reference is not important.

I process fund transfers.

Does your daughter go to school?

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

CCP populates and maintains the Business Authority Retention table.

“Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I’m not there, I go to work. ” Robert Orben

“Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.” Pablo Picasso

2. Express habits and routines

I do not eat ice cream.

My team meets for lunch on Fridays.

2. Describes your feelings, thoughts and perceptions at the present moment.

I feel tired.

He looks like he had a long night.

I smell the coffee brewing. (Also: I can smell the coffee brewing.)

She hears the phone ringing. (Also: She can hear the phone ringing.)

Additional things to know about the simple present:

Use it to say how often you or others do things. Simple present is used with frequency adverbs such as always, never, often and sometimes. It can also express something a person often forgets or usually does not do.

We always wash the floor on Mondays.

IT backs up the servers daily.

Sometimes she smokes during the day.

My boss often comments on my work.

I often forget my purse.

The simple present has certain conventional uses in business writing. Use it to

Provide factual information about company activities

We teach people how to write clearly.

Gray Hills Region has a two-tier government structure with services provided by the Region and local area municipal governments.

Pencils and Pens Inc. supplies you with the tools you need to run your business.

Write mission statements

We provide quality HR services to attract, develop, motivate and retain a diverse workforce within a supportive work environment. We do this with an emphasis on customer service based on consultation and communication with the campus community.

ALHA represents over 320 nonprofit providers of long-term care and housing services for 65,000 elderly residents across Pennsylvania. The Association is committed to helping its members provide quality care efficiently and effectively for the individuals and families they serve. In an age of impersonal care, ALHA members put people before profits.

Talk about timetables and events scheduled in the past or the future.

The bus to Whistler leaves at 2:45 Monday to Friday.

The course starts at 8:30 am tomorrow.

The AODA regulations come into effect next month.

Provide a summary or abstract at the beginning of a report; define a document’s purpose.

I recommend we purchase the ABC copier.

The test results indicate that no additional hard drive memory is required to resolve the PC performance stability and performance issues.

This document outlines the on-call steps operations staff must take to resolve production problems quickly and effectively.

Do by saying. These verbs are also known as performative verbs.

I quit.

I apologize for being late.

Do you agree?

We guarantee you will be satisfied.

She promises to submit the proposal by Friday.

I enclose a return envelope for your convenience.

Performative verbs–a partial list