Talking Tenses

Research findings, as Scott Thornbury has pointed out,* endorse this view, for they highlight the fact that syllabuses based on written models do not match the frequency and distribution of grammar as it is used to talk. For example, in conversation the present tense outnumbers past tenses by around four to one; simple forms outnumber the continuous forms by twenty to one and the past perfect features highly infrequently.

* in: Syllabus design: What's wrong with grammar?