Does this happen to you? You prepare well <\/span>before an interview<\/span>. <\/span><\/span>Yet<\/span>, when the real thing comes, you can\u2019t speak a <\/span>word<\/span>. <\/span><\/span>You wonder <\/span>why<\/span> it happens to <\/span>you<\/span>. <\/span><\/span>\u2018<\/span>Why me<\/span><\/b>?<\/span>\u2019 So what are you going to do to save yourself? <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/span>(<\/span>pic source<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
Well, you don’t have to be sad<\/span>. If you have a<\/span> higher level of language proficiency<\/span>, will it make much difference to your career? But of course, the question is how<\/span>, how<\/span> to enhance<\/span> your levels of English. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/span>There are lots of ways, one of which is <\/span><\/span>to have a<\/span> better understanding<\/span> of how English tenses <\/span>work<\/span>. <\/span><\/span>So how do English tenses work? <\/span><\/b>
\n
\n<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\n<\/span>An Interview Question for You<\/b><\/span><\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span>Well, before you get the answer, you have to <\/span>answer a question<\/b><\/span>, a question that you have to answer (all the time) <\/b><\/span>in an interview<\/b><\/span>. <\/span>What<\/span><\/span> is it?<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
(pic source<\/a>)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Well, (there are) usually 2 answers for this tough question<\/b>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n
\n
a. I left my job<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
because<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
I <\/span>wasn’t enjoying<\/span> it<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
b. I left my job<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
because<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
I <\/span>did not enjoy<\/span> it. <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
So which one is correct<\/b>? Well, wrong <\/b>question to ask. They are both<\/b> correct, but the point is: What is the difference<\/b> between ‘was<\/span>+enjoy<\/span>+ing<\/span>‘ and ‘enjoy <\/span>in the simple past<\/span>‘?<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Past Tenses in your Interview<\/b><\/span><\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>You may think that <\/span> ‘<\/span>was<\/span>+<\/span>enjoy<\/span>+<\/span>ing<\/span>‘ happens with a time shorter <\/b>than <\/span> ‘<\/span>enjoy <\/span>in the<\/span> simple past<\/span>‘. Well, you may be right, but not in this context, the context of an interview<\/b>.<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>So what is the difference<\/span><\/b> in the context of an interview? <\/span>To know the difference, <\/span>check out<\/b> the picture below, what do you see?<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n
(pic source<\/a>)<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nWell, you see a beautiful woman<\/b>, right? But sorry this is not the point<\/b>. The point is the two in the background<\/span>, which is the key to the answer. What do I mean? I mean can you see clearly<\/span><\/b> the two persons in the background<\/b>? No. <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>In other words, the foreground is clear but the background is not. Yes. So what is my point? How does that relate to interview English<\/span>, and to the two past tenses<\/span>?<\/b>   <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The answer is: a similar shooting technique<\/span><\/b> is used in English<\/b>. <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>In English<\/b>, and more importantly in your interview, <\/span>when you want to give background information about your past, you use <\/span>‘<\/span>was<\/span>+<\/span>verb<\/span>+<\/span>ing<\/span>‘. Need extra examples? There are two more for your interview:<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/a> <\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n
What are the<\/span> most difficult decisions to Make?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

\n<\/span><\/span>Can you describe a difficult work situation<\/b>?<\/span><\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span>(pic source<\/a>)<\/span><\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>So you may say: I <\/b>was <\/span>work<\/span>ing <\/span>on a project when one of our competitors <\/b>stole <\/span>our new concept. <\/b><\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>In a word, you can sum up<\/b> the technique <\/span>of <\/span>foreground <\/span>and<\/span> background<\/span> in the following table:<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n
\n
In the <\/span>
\nFore<\/span>ground<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
the <\/span>simple past      <\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span>(e.g.<\/span> enjoyed)<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
In the <\/span>Back<\/span>ground<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
was<\/span>+<\/span>verb<\/span>+<\/span>ing      <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
(e.g.<\/span> was enjoying)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>Moving beyond Interviews to your Daily Life<\/b><\/span><\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>You can, of course, apply <\/b>the same technique to your daily life<\/b>:<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>a. We reached the store<\/span> and they were just closing the doors.<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>b. I was having lunch with the CEO of Orange & Apple yesterday, and suddenly I saw my friend<\/span>. <\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>———————————-<\/span>
\nReferences:<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>1. <\/span>Biber, D., et al. (1999). <\/b><\/span>Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English<\/b><\/span><\/span>, Pearson Education Limited.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>2. Downing and Locke (2006). English Grammar : A University Course<\/b><\/span>, Routledge.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
3. Halliday, M. A. K. (2004). <\/span>An Introduction to Functional Grammar<\/b><\/span>, <\/b>Arnold. (Revised by Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen).<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span>4. Parrot, M. (2010). <\/span>Grammar for English Language Teachers<\/b><\/span><\/span>, Cambridge<\/st1:placename> University<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> Press. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Does this happen to you? You prepare well before an interview. Yet, when the real thing comes, you can\u2019t speak a word. You wonder why it happens to you. \u2018Why me?\u2019 So what are you going to do to save yourself? (pic source) Well, you don’t have to be sad. If you have a higher […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spoken-english"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/FreeGreatPicture.com-29074-interesting-material-of-commerce.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":730,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions\/730"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindpowerasia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}