Using the present to talk about the past: BBC English Masterclass

Hi Sian here for BBC Learning English . I have a great joke for you.

So, a pony walks into a bar and whispers "Can I have a beer."

The barman replies, "Of course you can, but why are you whispering?"

And the pony says "Because I'm a little hoarse." Get it? A pony is 'a little horse'!

Ok, it's not the best joke, but did you notice what tense I used to tell the joke?

I used the present not the past. We often use the present to talk about the past, so

I'm going to share with you a few ways that we do this.

Last year I was swimming off the coast of New Zealand, when suddenly I see a shark

coming up behind me. Everyone starts screaming. I swim as fast as I can. It was very scary!

Did you notice? I started the story in the past, and then when I got to the exciting

part of the story, I switched to the present. We do this to make the exciting part of the

story more dramatic for the listener.

I actually made it into the newspapers after that scary experience. Here is the headline:

Terrified swimmer is chased out of sea.

So, newspaper journalists often use the present simple 'is chased' rather than the past 'was chased'.

They do this to make the story more fresh and immediate and dramatic.

I hear you're getting married!

Did you notice, I used the present form of 'hear' rather than the past? We do this because

we want to put more emphasis on what I heard, rather than the fact that I heard it.

We also do it with verbs like, say, tell and gather. For example,

She says she's leaving the country!

I've got a joke. A pony walks into a bar and...

Don't worry, I'm not going to tell the joke again!

But we use the present simple when telling jokes to make the joke more exciting

and more immediate for the listener.

For more information about using the present

to talk about the past and to practise this, go to our website: bbclearningenglish.com.

And I'm not joking!