OET Writing: Reporting TODAY's event with the right TENSE

When it comes to conveying information about the events that have occurred today, it is highly important to get the structure of the sentence right or more precisely, the tense.

Read on to find out what tense will best suit reporting today's events.

Even though today's visit is technically considered an event of the past or an action that has been completed (in grammar lingo!), you have the flexibility of using both past and present tense to report the event.

It all depends on the accuracy and validity of the data that we are reporting.

Let's have a look!

We mainly deal with 3 tenses here:

Past tense:

For details that include vital signs or test reports which were accurate at the time of the visit.

• On examination, the steri strips were found to be intact.

Present tense:

When talking about the lifestyle of a person

• Despite previous advice, Mr Alex still smokes one pack of cigarettes a day.

Present perfect tense:

This tense is in order when there is a betterment or a deterioration in the patient's condition in the case of an unresolved situation.

• Since her last visit, Mrs Ruchika's pain levels have reduced from a 9 to a 2.

Finally, it should be noted that it is perfectly fine to use more than one sort of tense in a paragraph but this should convey accurate meaning and should never cause any kind of confusion to the reader.

Happy Scoring!