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menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-1522"><a href="https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/explaining-cause-and-effect/">Explaining causality</a></li> <li id="menu-item-1521" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-1521"><a href="https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/giving-examples/">Giving examples</a></li> <li id="menu-item-1520" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-1520"><a href="https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/signalling-transition/">Signalling transition</a></li> <li id="menu-item-1519" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page current-menu-item page_item page-item-1508 current_page_item menu-item-1519"><a href="https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/writing-about-the-past-2/">Writing about the past</a></li> </ul></div></div>  </div> <div class="et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_1 et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_text_align_left"> <div class="et_pb_text_inner"> <div class="widget"> <div class="textwidget" style="text-align: left">An enhanced and expanded version of PHRASEBANK is available in PDF or Kindle format:</div> <div style="text-align: left"> </div> <div style="text-align: left"><a href="https://phrasebankresearch.net/" target="_blank" rel="attachment noopener wp-att-1603"><img class="alignnone wp-image-1603" src="https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/328/2021/09/adobe-pdf-icon.png" alt="pdf logo" width="46" height="46" /></a> <a href="https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/amazon/" rel="attachment noopener wp-att-1602"><img class="alignnone wp-image-1602" src="https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/328/2021/09/download_kindle_version_icone-300x300.png" alt="kindle logo" width="46" height="46" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: left"> </div> </div> <div class="widget"> <div class="textwidget" style="text-align: left"><a href="https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/about-academic-phrasebank/">ABOUT PHRASEBANK</a></div> </div> </div> </div>  </div> <div class="et_pb_column et_pb_column_2_3 et_pb_column_2 et_pb_specialty_column et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough"> <div class="et_pb_row_inner et_pb_row_inner_0"> <div class="et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et_pb_column_inner et_pb_column_inner_0 et-last-child"> <div class="et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_2 et_pb_bg_layout_light et_pb_text_align_left"> <div class="et_pb_text_inner"> <h1>Writing about the past</h1> <p>Writing about the past in English is made difficult by the rather complex tense system. However, the phrases grouped below give an indication of the uses of the main tenses in academic writing. For a comprehensive explanation of the uses of the various tenses you will need to consult a good English grammar book. A good recommendation is <em>Practical English Usage </em>by Michael Swan, Oxford University Press.</p> </div> </div>  </div>  </div> <div class="et_pb_row_inner et_pb_row_inner_1"> <div class="et_pb_column et_pb_column_4_4 et_pb_column_inner et_pb_column_inner_1 et-last-child"> <div class="et_pb_module et_pb_accordion et_pb_accordion_0"> <div class="et_pb_toggle et_pb_module et_pb_accordion_item et_pb_accordion_item_0 et_pb_toggle_open"> <h5 class="et_pb_toggle_title">Time phrases associated with the use of the simple past tense: specific times or periods of time in the past</h5> <div class="et_pb_toggle_content clearfix"> <table style="width: 100%"> <colgroup> <col style="width: 32%"> <col style="width: 68%"></colgroup> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #cccccc;padding: 12px">In 1933,<br />Three years later,<br />From 1933 to 1945,<br />In the 1930s and 1940s,<br />During the Nazi period,<br />Between 1933 and 1945,</td> <td style="padding: 12px;border: 1px solid #cccccc;text-align: left">restrictions were placed on German academics.</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p> </p> <table style="width: 100%"> <colgroup> <col style="width: 45%"> <col style="width: 55%"></colgroup> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #cccccc;padding: 12px">For centuries,<br />Throughout the 19th century,<br />At the start of the 19th century,<br />In the latter half of the 19th century,<br />At the beginning of the 19th century,<br />Towards the end of the 19th century,<br />In the early years of the 19th century,<br />At the end of the nineteenth century,<br />In the second half of the 19th century,</td> <td style="padding: 12px;border: 1px solid #cccccc;text-align: left">authorities placed restrictions on academics.</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div>  </div>  </div> <div class="et_pb_module et_pb_accordion et_pb_accordion_1"> <div class="et_pb_toggle et_pb_module et_pb_accordion_item et_pb_accordion_item_1 et_pb_toggle_open"> <h5 class="et_pb_toggle_title">Time phrases associated with the use of the present perfect tense: past and present connected</h5> <div class="et_pb_toggle_content clearfix"> <p><em>To date</em>, little evidence has been found associating X with Y.<br /><em>Up to now</em>, the research has tended to focus on X rather than on Y.<br /><em>So far</em>, three factors have been identified as being potentially important: X, Y, and Z.<br /><em>Since 1965</em>, these four economies have doubled their share of world production and trade.</p> <p><em>Until recently</em>, there has been little interest in X.<br /><em>Recently</em>, these questions have been addressed by researchers in many fields.<br /><em>In recent years</em>, researchers have investigated a variety of approaches to X but …<br /><em>More recently</em>, literature has emerged that offers contradictory findings about …</p> <p><em>The past decade</em> has seen the rapid development of X in many …<br /><em>Over the past 30 years</em> there has been a significant increase in …<br /><em>Over the past century</em> there has been a dramatic increase in …<br /><em>Over the past few decades</em>, the world has seen the stunning transformation of X, Y and Z.</p> </div>  </div>  </div> <div class="et_pb_module et_pb_accordion et_pb_accordion_2"> <div class="et_pb_toggle et_pb_module et_pb_accordion_item et_pb_accordion_item_2 et_pb_toggle_open"> <h5 class="et_pb_toggle_title">The present perfect tense is typically used to describe recent research with several contributors</h5> <div class="et_pb_toggle_content clearfix"> <p> Previous studies of X have not dealt with …<br />Several recent studies have revealed that <br />It has been shown that … (Smith, 2002, Jones, 2007).<br />X has been intensively investigated recently due to its …<br /> A considerable amount of literature has been published on X.<br />X has been identified as a major contributing factor for the decline of …<br />Factors thought to be influencing X have been explored in several studies.<br />The new material has been shown to enhance X (Smith, 2002, Jones, 2007).<br />The relationship between X and Y has been widely investigated (Smith, 2002, Jones, <br />There have been several investigations into the causes of X (Smith, 2005; Jones, 2007). </p> </div>  </div>  </div> <div class="et_pb_module et_pb_accordion et_pb_accordion_3"> <div class="et_pb_toggle et_pb_module et_pb_accordion_item et_pb_accordion_item_3 et_pb_toggle_open"> <h5 class="et_pb_toggle_title">For reference to single investigations or publications in the past, the simple past tense is used</h5> <div class="et_pb_toggle_content clearfix"> <table style="width: 100%"> <colgroup> <col style="width: 15%" /> <col style="width: 85%" /></colgroup> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #cccccc;padding: 12px">The first</td> <td style="padding: 12px;border: 1px solid #cccccc;text-align: left">detection of X came in 1992 when …<br />systematic study of X was reported by Smith <em>et al.</em> in 1992.<br />experimental treatment of X, by Smith <em>et al. </em>(1992), used a …</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p> </p> <table style="width: 100%"> <colgroup> <col style="width: 15%" /> <col style="width: 18%" /> <col style="width: 67%" /></colgroup> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #cccccc;padding: 12px">In 1969</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #cccccc;padding: 12px">Smith <em>et al.</em></td> <td style="padding: 12px;border: 1px solid #cccccc;text-align: left">performed the first …<br />published a paper in which they described …<br />introduced a system of classification based on …<br />demonstrated that X induced in vitro resistance to …</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div>  </div>  </div>  </div>  </div>  </div>  </div>  </div> <div class="et_pb_section et_pb_section_5 footer-section et_pb_with_background et_section_regular"> <div id="footer-row" class="et_pb_row et_pb_row_1"> <div class="et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_3 et_pb_column_3 et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough"> 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