Students should have completed Lectures 2.1–2.3 before proceeding.
← Lecture 2.3 — The Rules of Agreement: ConcordIf the noun is the primary naming unit of English, the verb is its primary action unit — and no element of the sentence carries more grammatical information. The verb encodes tense (when an event occurs), aspect (how an event unfolds over time), and voice (the relationship between the subject and the action) (Biber et al., 2021, p. 220). Mastery of these three dimensions is fundamental to accurate and professional academic writing (Swales & Feak, 2020, p. 62).
English verbs combine tense and aspect to produce twelve distinct verb forms. Understanding this system is essential for conveying precise temporal meaning in academic writing, where the choice between tenses is rarely arbitrary (Swales & Feak, 2020, p. 65).
| Tense & Aspect | Form | Academic Use | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present Simple | V / V-s | General truths, habitual actions, reporting what an author claims | "Smith (2021) argues that…" |
| Past Simple | V-ed | Completed events at a specific past time; methodology sections | "The researchers collected data in 2022." |
| Future Simple | will + V | Predictions, announcements, promises | "This paper will examine three factors." |
| Present Progressive | am/is/are + V-ing | Ongoing actions; current trends in the field | "Researchers are increasingly focusing on…" |
| Past Progressive | was/were + V-ing | Ongoing past action interrupted by another event | "The experiment was running when the power failed." |
| Present Perfect | have/has + V-en | Past events with current relevance; review of literature | "Studies have shown a consistent pattern." |
| Past Perfect | had + V-en | Events completed before another past event | "The data had been collected before the methodology was revised." |
| Present Perfect Progressive | have/has been + V-ing | Ongoing action that began in the past and continues now | "Scholars have been debating this issue since 2015." |
| Past Perfect Progressive | had been + V-ing | Ongoing past action completed before another past event | "They had been collecting samples for three months before the analysis began." |
| Future Progressive | will be + V-ing | Actions that will be in progress at a future point | "The committee will be reviewing applications in March." |
| Future Perfect | will have + V-en | Actions that will be completed by a future time | "By the end of the study, the team will have interviewed 200 participants." |
| Future Perfect Progressive | will have been + V-ing | Duration of ongoing action up to a future point | "By December, they will have been conducting research for two years." |
Critical Academic Tense: The present perfect is the most frequently misused tense by Nigerian students. It signals that a past event has current relevance — it is the standard tense for literature reviews: "Research has demonstrated..." not "Research demonstrated..." unless a specific past date is given (Swales & Feak, 2020, p. 70).
Voice determines the relationship between the grammatical subject and the action expressed by the verb. English has two voices: active and passive. The choice between them is not merely stylistic — in academic writing, it is a rhetorical decision that determines emphasis, formality, and objectivity (Biber et al., 2021, p. 250).
In the active voice, the grammatical subject is the agent — the one who performs the action. Active sentences are typically more direct, vigorous, and concise (Crystal, 2019, p. 128).
In the passive voice, the grammatical subject is the recipient of the action. The agent (doer) may be expressed in a by-phrase or omitted entirely. The passive is formed with be + past participle (Quirk et al., 2018, p. 136).
The ability to identify verb tense and voice in academic texts — and to convert between them — is a core skill for both reading comprehension and writing production (Gass & Selinker, 2020, p. 112).
For each sentence, identify (a) the tense-aspect combination and (b) the voice (active or passive). For items 6–10, convert the sentence to the opposite voice without changing the tense.
The verb is the most grammatically complex element of the English sentence. Its tense locates events in time, its aspect characterises their internal structure, and its voice controls the focus of information within the clause. A student who commands these three dimensions can write with precision, objectivity, and stylistic flexibility — the hallmarks of mature academic prose (Biber et al., 2021, p. 260).
The passive voice, in particular, deserves special attention in academic writing — it is not a grammatical weakness but a purposeful rhetorical tool, deployed strategically to achieve the impersonal, evidence-centred tone that characterises formal scholarly writing (Swales & Feak, 2020, p. 78).
Lecture 2.4 — Verb Mechanics: Tense, Aspect, and Voice
Which tense-aspect form is most appropriate for reporting what a published scholar has argued in a literature review?
[1 mark]
Identify the tense-aspect combination and voice of each sentence: (a) "The data is being analysed." (b) "Scholars had debated this issue for decades." (c) "The university will have published the results by June."
[3 marks — 1 per sentence]
Explain the difference between tense and aspect in English grammar. Use the verb write to construct one example of the present perfect and one of the past perfect, explaining what each conveys about time.
[2 marks]
The passive voice is formed using:
[1 mark]
Convert the following active sentences to the passive voice, retaining the original tense: (a) "The panel evaluated all the proposals." (b) "Researchers are currently conducting three major studies." (c) "The government will fund the initiative."
[3 marks — 1 per sentence]
Which statement about the passive voice in academic writing is most accurate?
[1 mark]
Write one original sentence in each of the following tense-aspect forms: (a) present progressive, (b) past perfect, (c) present perfect progressive. For each, explain what temporal meaning the form conveys.
[3 marks — 1 per form]
Distinguish between the active and passive voice. Give two specific situations in academic writing where the passive voice is the more appropriate choice, and write one original example sentence for each situation.
[2 marks]
In the sentence "The samples were collected and analysed in a controlled environment," the passive construction is used primarily because:
[1 mark]
In a paragraph of 6–8 sentences, explain why a command of tense, aspect, and voice is described as essential for academic writing. Draw on at least two specific examples — one involving tense selection and one involving voice — to illustrate how incorrect choices affect the clarity and credibility of academic prose.
[3 marks]
You have completed all four lectures of Module 2: Grammar & Usage. Proceed to Module 3: Language Skills when it becomes available.
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