Page 173 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

TEACHING VERB TENSES AND VOICE 159
[simple present] a question whether the government really provides [simple pres- ent] these services as efficiently as possible.Actually, it was [simple past] the funda- mental question in public administration, since public administration began [simple past] as an independent discipline.
Asonesolutiontothisproblem,Luther Gulickpresents [simple present]someprinci- ples of public administration to improve efficiency. According to his suggestion, a higher level of efficiency can be achieved [simple present] by specialization of tasks. Gulick's principles also mentioned [simple past] how to improve efficiency in public administra- tion, such as unity of command, process, and clients. These principles are called [simple
present] theprinciples of efficiency, and they became [simple past] thefocus of research. Many scholars present [simple present] new principles every day, when public de- manded [simple past] more public services and goods from the government.
(Extracted from a student paper on efficiency in public administration.)
Throughout the text, the present-tense verbs are mixed with those in the past tense. Most of the inconsistent uses of tenses can be corrected (or pre- vented) by employing the types of corrections discussed earlier. For example,
• Associetybecomes[simplepresent]morecomplicated,thegovernmentex- panded [simple past] O [expands—simple present] itsrole dramatically.
• In the past/In the 1920s/In the early days, thefundamental services, which we use [simple present] every day such as water, gas, electricity,
•
•
public transportation wereproduced [simple past] byindividual vendors. But in those days/at that time/during that period, there was [simple past] a critical problem with these individual suppliers, and in to- day's/current/modern industrial societies the government provides [sim- ple present] these services.
Today/These days/Currently it is [simple present] a question whether the government really provides [simple present] these services as effi- ciently aspossible.
• Actually,itwas[simplepast]theinitial/early/original/old fundamental question in public administration, since the time/the beginning (when) public administration began [simple past] as an independent discipline.
Exercises for correcting inconsistent tense errors in actual student writ- ing can be highly productive and useful for practice with conventionalized uses of tense in academic written discourse in English.
Progressive Aspects with Nonprogressive Verbs
A common type of errors with the usage of progressive tenses occurs when L2 writers employ nonprogressive verbs. For example,
This essay is concerning the studies that have shown a sharp decline in the number of recycling plants in the New York area and other U.S. cities. Those people who listen
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