Now is your chance to use this week's grammar!

Imagine you are a newsreader. Tell us one of the top stories from your country. For example: Here is the 6 o'clock news. The president has resigned. He left his office today and said 'I want to spend more time with my family'. Politicians from all the major parties were shocked by the news.


Thank you for all your comments. This topic has now closed.

Usha, India
Here is today's big story. Our President Mr Soni has resigned. He resigned because of a political issue - farmer suicides. In India many farmers were suicide for debt. In India there is no rain and no crops. Opposites political leader forced him to resign So he left his office and said 'Because of my family problem, I resign today'.

Nuala says:

Hello Usha,

How sad that farmers are killing themselves over debt.

You used both the present perfect (has resigned) and the past simple (forced) to tell your story. Well done. But there was one more place in your piece where the present perfect would have been just right. Rather than using the present simple here 'In India there is no rain and no crops' can you see a way to improve this with the present perfect?

The verb that goes with suicide is 'commit' not 'be'. And when you explain the reason for the suicides, you should say 'because of' not 'for' ('many farmers were suicide for debt').

Finally, I know what you mean by 'opposites political leader' but in English, we say 'the opposition leader'.

Thanks for writing in with your news story.

Nuala

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Lien Do, Vietnam
The new-built bridge that connects Vinh Long and Can Tho provinces has just collapsed after the rainy season has started. When this news announced on the Television, people were shocked and angry about it. Some workers were died and some are still missing. The local authority tried to comfort all families who lost their children in this accident. People all over the country also offered their help to those families. Our Prime Minister said that 'This accident is a national accident' and called for help from Vietnamese people who lived in and outside the country.

Nuala says:

Hi Lien Do,

What tragic news. I hope your prime minister's call for aid is answered soon.

You used both the present perfect (has just collapsed) and the past simple (people were shocked) well to report your news.

But the rainy season happened before the bridge collapsed so that part of your story should be in the past simple. You also need part of the verb 'to be' before 'announced'. You used it correctly in this sentence 'people were shocked but you don't need it in this sentence ('Some workers were died')

Usually I'm telling learners not to forget to use capital letters but you certainly don't have that problem. In fact you've used them too much! Neither Television nor Prime Minister actually need them.

Thanks for writing in.

Nuala

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Emilie, France
Here is the Saturday morning news. Public transportation unions have just put an end to the ten day strike. Millions of commuters were really pleased to hear the news. Negotiations on retirement issues started 2 days ago, within the companies. Unions decided to return to work yesterday evening, but they also threatened to start another strike in December if the results of the negotiations don't meet their requirements. Date:

Nuala says:

Hi Emilie,

This is a great news story. You've given us a really clear picture of what's happening in France.

You used both the present perfect and the past simple very well to introduce your news and then to give us more of the background.

Thanks for writing in.

Nuala

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Methys, Poland
Poland has a new prime minister. Donald Tusk, who has been the leader of the Civic Party (this right-wing party has won the election over a month ago), took the position after Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who had been PM for 2 years. Tusk has won a confidence vote in polish parliament this morning, but he gained only 238 votes out of 446. Even though it is a majority, most Poles say: 'I will not accept him as my prime minister'.

Nuala says:

Hi Methys,

Thanks for keeping us up-to-date with Polish politics.

You used a lot of past simple correctly 'took' and 'gained' and, although you used a lot of present perfect, you didn't get it quite right.

Let's take a look at one of your examples in more detail - 'this right-wing party 'has won' the election over a month ago'. This has the present perfect 'has won' but then you used a past time maker 'a month ago' which means the past simple would be more appropriate. Can you see how you could correct the two other sentences where you have used the present perfect and past time markers in your piece?

Thanks for writing in!

Nuala

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Mominul Islam, Bangladesh
Now it's 21.30 on 23rd November, 2007. A strong haricane has just passed through Bangladesh. But the country has very poor capabilities to overcome this natural destruction within a very short time. So it takes a lot of time to recover. The people of Bangladesh were really shocked although they heard the precaution but didn't believe that alert.

Nuala says:

Hi Mominul,

I hope you and all your family in Bangladesh are all OK after the severe weather there recently.

You used the present perfect and past simple well in your news story. First you used the present perfect to introduce your news 'has just passed through' and then, the past simple to give some of the detail 'they heard' and 'didn't believe'. But here, because you're talking about after the recovery, the present simple isn't correct 'So it takes a lot of time to recover'. What form should you use instead?

The spelling of ' haricane' isn't right and the word 'precaution' actually means 'an action which you do to prevent something unpleasant or dangerous happening'. But I think the word you're looking for is 'warning', which means (like 'alert') 'making someone aware of possible danger, especially in the future'

Thanks for writing in.

Nuala

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