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Business English Grammatical Differences Exercise

Answers to the exercise on tenses grammatical differences

The answers to the exercise Business English Grammatical Differences Exercise

Answers to the Exercise what are Grammatical differences

Why are different tenses used in the sentences for each question?

Question 1

The first sentence is seen as generally true or even permanent, but the second is seen as temporary.

a) I work for a well-known multinational

b) I'm working on restructuring the company

Question 2

The first is a temporary action that is in progress when something else happened (or interrupted in this case). The second is a simple sequence of events.

a) What were you doing when the manager called?

b) What did you do when the manager called?

Question 3

Similar to question 2, but there is also an action that is completed before another happens (Past Perfect)

a) When we arrived, they introduced the main conference speakers

b) When we arrived, they were introducing the main conference speakers

c) When we arrived, they had introduced the main conference speakers

Question 4

Contrast between an unfinished time (perhaps 'in my life time' or 'this year') with a finished time ('last weekr' or 'in my last job').

a) I've worked with several very prestigious clients

b) I worked with several very prestigious clients

Question 5

Contrast between a sentence where the action is important (replying) and where the result is important (cleared the backlog). Point out that 'How much?' is usually answered with the Present Perfect Simple and 'How long?' with the Present Perfect Continuous.

a) I've been replying to customer enquiries all day

b) I've nearly cleared the backlog of enquiries from the Xmas break