- Hello, lovely students, and welcome back to English with Lucy. I have got such an exciting video for you, because now there are various
studies, various claims, but the general consensus is that 90% to up to 95% of
all written and spoken English is done in just five grammar tenses. So what are we going to do today? We are going to go through
those five grammar tenses so that you can get that
little bit closer to fluency. We're going to improve your
grammar fluency and accuracy in the most efficient way possible. To make your life even easier, I have created a free
PDF for you to download. It contains all of the information about these five grammar tenses that make up 90%, if not 95%,
of spoken and written English. We look at them in greater
detail with more examples, and I've also included a quiz so you can test your understanding. If you think that that will help you, if you'd like to get your free copy, all you have to do is click on the link in the description box. You enter your name
and your email address. You sign up to my mailing list, and the PDF will arrive
directly in your inbox. After that, you will automatically receive my free lesson PDFs every week, plus all of my news, course
information, and offers. It's a free service and you
can unsubscribe at any time. Okay, let's start this amazingly
efficient grammar lesson by reviewing the English verb tenses. So technically there
are only three tenses, the present, the past, and the future, but we have four different
aspects within these tenses. The simple, the continuous,
the perfect simple, and the perfect continuous. When we combine these four aspects with the three verb tenses, we get what we typically refer
to as the 12 verb tenses. Some people like to include
the conditionals in the tenses. I don't. You will hear some people
say there are 16 tenses. I like to set the conditionals apart. Let's have a look at
each one really quickly just to refresh our memories. The present simple is used for general truths, habits,
and permanent situations. The present continuous is
used for actions happening now or around the present moment. The present perfect is
used for past actions with a connection to the
present or for experiences. And the present perfect
continuous is used for actions that started in the past and
are ongoing up to the present. Now the pasts. The past simple is used to talk about completed actions in the past. The past continuous is used for actions that were in progress at a
specific time in the past. The past perfect is used
for actions completed before a specific time in the past. And the past perfect continuous is used for actions that started
in the past, continued, and were completed before
another past event. Don't worry, we'll look at
some of these in more detail. And finally, the future. We have the future simple, used for actions that
will happen in the future. The future continuous, used for actions that will be in progress at a specific time in the future. The future perfect, used for
actions that will be completed before a specific time in the future. And the future perfect continuous, used for actions that will
start in the future, continue, and be completed before
another future event. Okay, that's a lot of
information to remember and I covered it very, very briefly. Don't worry, we're going to go deeper. I know a lot of English learners struggle with deciding which verb tense
to use in a given situation. Well, lucky for you, not all
verb tenses are created equal. Let's go ahead and look at
this beautiful chart I made to see which are the five
most commonly used verb tenses in both spoken and written English. By the way, if you're
curious about the numbers, I've added links to various
studies on verb tense frequency. You can find those in the description box. Okay, time for the big reveal. Our most common verb tense, making up nearly 60% of all
English communication is, drum roll, the present simple. We then have that followed by the past simple at close to 20%. Then the future simple at around 8%. So that's three tenses making nearly 88% of the entire usage,
according to certain studies. Then we have the present
perfect simple at around 6% and present continuous at 5%. And then we have this tiny sliver of pie that contains the other seven verb tenses. Now, if you're good at maths, you'll notice that's 99%
for all of those tenses. In the title I say 90% because I don't 100% trust those numbers. But don't let this chart fool you. Each and every verb tense
has its time and place, but for general day-to-day conversations, these five are going to
be your bread and butter. So let's go ahead and see
how you can start using each of these tenses to
the best of your ability. As you just learned, the
present simple makes up a large portion of daily communication and rightfully so, we live
in the present after all. Let's look at some of the most common uses of the present simple. Firstly, we use it to talk
about facts and statements that are always true. Most people prefer to shop online. Or, the supermarket is
busy on Saturday mornings. We also use it for statements
that are true in the present. You are my best friend, Jasmine. Or, I can't bake to save
my life. Look at this cake. You can just show a really rubbish cake. And we also use it for routine actions or habits in the present, often used with an adverb of frequency. Do you always bike to work? Or, I never see her in
yoga class these days. We use it to refer to
scheduled events in the future. Carmine's holiday officially
starts on the 5th of October. Or, my stag do kicks off at
10:00 PM at Boots and Brews. And the last one I'll mention today, we use it to give
directions or instructions. Mix the flour and water together
to create a thick paste. Or, to get to the bookshop, walk down to the corner and take a left. As you can probably
tell from our examples, these kinds of statements and questions make up a large portion of
our daily conversations, so it's no wonder why the
present simple topped our list. Next up, we have the past simple. Of course, this is the
second most used verb tense because we use it to talk about completed actions in the past. And we sure do love to
talk about the past. Look at a news article or
pick up your favourite book. Most of them rely heavily
on the past simple tense. Let's go ahead and look at some uses of this very versatile tense. It's commonly used to describe actions that occurred at a
specific time in the past. I visited Greece last
summer with my girlfriend. It's also used to narrate
a series of past events. Yolanda woke up, brushed her teeth, and headed off to the office. It's used to express habitual or repeated actions in the past. Every morning, Ben watered
his plants and fed his dog. And number four, it's used to discuss past
states or conditions. We were so tired after
our long hike yesterday. Alright, next up we have
the future simple tense. Let's start with spontaneous decisions. For example, I'm pretty
hungry. I will order some food. Predictions. The weather forecast says
it will rain tomorrow. Promises. I will get to the office 20 minutes early to get everything set up. Offers. Mom will be happy to help
you with your project if you need it. And requests. Will you pass me the salt? Got it? Good, because it's time to
move on from the future simple and talk about the present perfect simple. Don't let its long and slightly
confusing name fool you. It's actually quite an
easy tense to master. We use it to talk about
unfinished states or actions that started in the past. He's been in his new
position for about two weeks. We use it to talk about completed actions with relevance to the present. My dad has just pulled up to the house. We use it for life events and experiences. They have travelled around
Asia and most of Europe. And we use it for actions or events at an unspecified time in the past. Yeah, we've tried that
recipe. See, not so bad. Now let's move on to our
last verb tense of the day so you can get out there and start showing off your grammar skills. The present continuous. We use it to talk about a
few different situations, like describing things
happening right now. Debra is whipping up some
delicious banana pancakes. We use it to talk about
activities that are not permanent. I'm giving this workout
plan a shot for a month to see how it makes me feel. We use it for discussing plans or events that will happen in the future. Mark isn't going to that
conference next month. He changed his mind. We use it for actions happening
around a specific time. I'm working this morning, but
I'll be free this afternoon. And we use it for describing things that are gradually changing or improving. The city is slowly
becoming more eco-friendly with new recycling
programmes and bike lanes. Right, that about does it for me. As I said before, if you want to know a
little bit more information, more information about the
structure, negatives, questions, download the PDF. All of the information is there with more examples and a quiz
to test your understanding. It's a really good grammar tenses test. In this PDF, I also
talk about the structure and formation of these tenses. So if you want to practise
that, make sure you download it. I really hope you enjoyed today's lesson. I hope you learned something. If you want to take your
English really seriously, we have launched our amazing
level programmes in English. We have our B1, B2, and C1 programmes. And if I do say so myself,
and I'm incredibly biassed, but I say it wholeheartedly,
they are amazing. We have had the most incredible feedback. You can visit englishwithlucy.com or visit the links in the description box. I will see you soon for
another lesson. Bye. (upbeat music)
