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This is an important question because there are 12 different verb tenses in English, and you want to study strategically, learning the most valuable ones!
Let's start by saying that there is no one answer. As you may know, the English we use for speaking is different from the English we use in writing. There are many
different situations to be speaking or writing in, and in each of those situations we would see different verb frequencies. Even from person to person, our individual
speaking style might lead one person to use, for example, the present tense more often than another person. We can, however, observe some useful patterns.
# Tense Frequency
• The simple present accounts for more than half of the verbs used in English speech
• The 5 most commonly used verb tenses total up to over 95% of usage
The results are complex, and grouped in ways that might not be too helpful, but I have tried to regroup them and show them in charts that are more useful for
language teachers and learners.
Before we look at some of those patterns, I want to include a caveat, or warning. When compared to all the language in the world, Krámský's sample is actually
very, very small. Ideally, we would get this information from a larger base of language called a corpus, like the Corpus of Contemporary American English.
Unfortunately, information of this kind is currently difficult (if not impossible) to get from most corpora. Still, the general proportions and patterns that Krámský
found should be fairly accurate. The one other warning is that the texts Krámský used as samples of spoken (or colloquial) English are actually plays, written to
sound like spoken English. It is very possible that examples of actual spoken English would be different from the language found in the plays.
As you can see, there are some big differences between different text types. Spoken English is mostly in the present tense (68.9%), but fiction is mostly past
tense (57.6%). Specialized texts overwhelmingly use the present tense (87.1%).
This makes a lot of sense. In fiction, we generally tell stories that take place before: first this happened, then that happened, then that happened. When we speak,
though, we talk a lot more about what we think and feel and like, what we do, who people are, our experiences and all of these things are expressed in the present
tense. In specialized texts, we are often writing about things that are generally true, and here again, we use the present tense a lot.
The future tense is less used in all text types: 9% in speech, 2% in fiction, and 4% in specialized texts.
This table breaks down each tense by frequency in all three text types:
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The charts look generally the same. In every style of English, the simple aspect—simple present, simple past, and simple future—makes up over 85% of verbs
that we use. The lesser-used aspects all fall in the same order: after simple, it's perfect, then progressive, then perfect progressive gets a tiny little sliver of use.
Biber and Reppen (2002) confirm this pattern, observing that the simple aspect is “more than 20 times as common as progressive in conversation.” (p. 204, cited in
Alzuhairy (2016).
Alzuhairy (2016) studied academic texts in particular. The same general pattern applies, but simple present only accounts for about 50% of verbs in Alzuhairy’s
findings.
Notice that the simple present alone accounts for 57% of verbs. Next is the simple past (19.7%), then
simple future (8.5%), followed by present perfect (6.0%) and then present progressive (5.1%). If you want to
know which verb tenses to learn first, these five will definitely give you the most bang for your buck!
The remaining 7 tense/aspect combinations are each under 1.5% of spoken English verbs. Of course, it is
valuable to learn all the combinations, but if you want to prioritize the most useful verb tenses, this should
be helpful.
It is not surprising that the vast majority of verbs are active. The most important takeaways that I see are
these: 97.5% of verbs in spoken English are active, but the passive voice is much more common in
specialized and academic texts, in which only 82.2% of sentences are active.
# Tense Frequency
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Posted in Grammar, B1, B2, C1 and tagged with verbs, verb tenses, grammar chart Newer / Older
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