Tenses for workplace writing
How to choose between present simple, present continuous, present perfect and past simple in emails, chats and call notes.
Most tense questions in grammar screenings come from four forms. If you can tell them apart quickly, you will answer the majority of tense questions correctly. The trick is to ask one thing every time: when did this happen, and is it finished?
Present simple and present continuous
Use the present simple for habits, facts and schedules: Our team works night shifts. The office opens at 9. Use the present continuous for something happening now or around now: I am checking your account.
A common mistake is using the continuous with verbs of state such as know, need, want and understand. Write I understand your concern, not I am understanding your concern.
Past simple and present perfect
The past simple is for a finished action at a finished time: I sent the file yesterday. The present perfect connects the past to now, with no finished time named: I have sent the file, so please check your inbox.
- With yesterday, last week, in 2022 or two hours ago, use the past simple.
- With already, yet, just, ever, since and for (when the situation is still true), use the present perfect.
The error I have sent it yesterday appears often in test questions. Remove either "have" or "yesterday".
Since and for with the present perfect
Use since with a starting point and for with a length of time: since Monday, since 2021, for three days, for two years. If the action is still going on, the continuous form is natural: I have been waiting for twenty minutes. The sentence I am working here since two years mixes up both rules. The correct version is I have been working here for two years.
Conditionals and future time
After if, when, as soon as and until, use the present simple even when you mean the future: I will call you when the refund is approved. Do not write when the refund will be approved.
Habit to build: before you send a message, find each verb and ask "when?" If the answer is a finished time, it should be past simple. If there is no time and the result matters now, it should be present perfect.
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