Talking about your Achievements in English Basic English Phrases

hi everybody welcome back to our weekly

live stream my name is Alisha and today

we’re going to talk about how to talk

about your achievements from 2019 with

past tense and present perfect tense and

past perfect tense this is our last live

stream for the year so I thought this

would be a nice topic to practice with

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thanks very much for joining us and

happy holidays wherever you are in the

world as I said today we’re going to

talk about how to talk about your

achievements Oh achievements means the

things that you were able to do like

your successes for the year so I thought

this would be a great livestream topic

to end 2019 so today as always I’ve

broken it into three different parts

it’s a little hard to see but we’ll zoom

in so don’t worry about that

so we’re going to start in just a moment

if you have not already do be sure to

like and share the video where wherever

you’re watching on YouTube or Facebook

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see your comments live so please keep

that in mind so I am going to share the

video and then I am going to begin

today’s lesson so today I’m going to

break the topics I’m going to break the

grammar points into three parts I’m

going to look at using simple past tense

simple past tense to describe your

achievements and then we’re going to

practice present perfect tense present

perfect tense including present perfect

continuous and then I’m going to talk

about past perfect so we’ll do some

grammar review of the maybe most

requested grammar points from 2019 for

the year so let’s begin with simple past

tense first simple past tense a reminder

when do we use simple past tense so we

use simple past tense for actions that

started and ended in the past so I’ve

done this many times in live streams and

in lessons but just to give a

you’ll just to give kind of an image to

help you see the differences between

these grammar points if we imagine on a

timeline where here this star is now

this direction is the future and back

here is the past we can imagine simple

past tense is used to talk about an

action an activity whatever that started

in the past so if this X is my start

point and this is my end point or

whatever so the action started and ended

in the past everything happened before

the conversation yeah so there’s no

relationship to the present this is a

difference with the other grammar points

in this lesson so started and ended in

the past okay so let’s take a look then

at just some sample sentences that use

simple past tense to express an

achievement so for example this sentence

I created I created a website a website

for my company so this is just a sample

like a work achievements that you can

think about so a couple points here

first obviously the simple past verb

here I created I created so create is

the regular the infinitive form of the

verb in past tense it becomes created

created so created simple past as I said

is a good vocabulary word to use here I

want to mention and this is good for you

those of you who are like studying

English for interviews or studying

English for work or maybe you practice

writing resumes and so on your resume is

your work history by the way so when

you’re talking about your achievements

with words like this try to choose

specific words like created for example

instead of made so words like do or

make our very general but it’s a good

idea to be specific and choose

vocabulary words that kind of have some

punch to them so instead of I made a

website like I created a website so that

kind of shows that from zero to the

product you were in charge of it so this

is our first example another example

let’s change industries we built a house

for our client it’s a different industry

here however I’m using a different I’m

using a different verb obviously and

this is not a regular verb so a reminder

about simple past tense not all verbs

end in IDI

so regular verbs conjugate with this IDI

ending to make simple past tense build

however is not a regular verb ya build

becomes built in simple past tense so we

built a house for our clients we built a

house for our clients or we built houses

for our clients as well so please keep

in mind they’re like regular verbs that

end in E D in simple past tense and then

there are irregular verbs like a build

this case okay so your task then hard to

see here but your task for everybody

watching live or not is to describe

something you achieved in 2019 describe

something you achieved in 2019 so while

you’re thinking and while you’re typing

I will write a couple more example

sentences so here’s one we’ll change the

subject again she designed a hotel last

year she designed a hotel last year so

in this sentence my simple past tense

verb is this design and design design is

the infinitive form of the verb in

simple past tense it just takes the IDI

ending

is a regular verb she designed a hotel

last year so as I was talking about

earlier using design here is a little

more specific actually a lot more

specific than saying like she made a

hotel last year like what does that mean

so design is clear like what was she in

charge of the design of the hotel she

designed a hotel last year okay

some examples are coming in great Andrew

Andrew who says I improved my English

with the help of your chat oh that’s

great happy to hear that awesome

a hundred says I learned many phrasal

verbs fantastic great great great on

Facebook I don’t see any yet lots of

people saying hello great okay

fair on YouTube says I found out about

English class 101 this year great ah Xiu

says I created a YouTube channel great

great great

Abdel says I moved to a new town three

months ago good see home says I

discovered your channel one year ago

very nice example sentences on Facebook

now I planted roses last year I bought a

house last year okay

Oh Brisas I cried in singularity means

alone so talking let’s talk about maybe

your achievements let’s try to focus on

the positive aspects of the last year

for today to end the year on a positive

note okay I’ll share one more example

this one again different topic he won an

award he won an award for his research

okay he won an award for his research so

again I’m using an irregular verb an

irregular verb here my verb is win in

past tense it’s 1:1 some not won like

Korean money but one won like the number

one so he won an award for the

preposition that we use here is for he

won an award for his research for known

phrase so if you win an award or some

kind of

like prestigious I don’t know

recognition you could say I won past

tense I won an award for something for

some reason I often see many learners

using present tense here like I win

something like that I won an award for

this thing so okay great some examples

are coming in I’ll read a couple and

then we’ll move along ah oh my gosh did

I just see that on Facebook it said I

became a US citizen last month where was

that that was awesome

where was it ah maybe it’ll appear here

in a second oh I hope I’ve missed it I

think dang it alright uh uh

if that was true if someone actually did

say they became a US citizen last month

awesome congratulations that’s huge

that’s very exciting um on YouTube cat

says is this live at Christmas time I

can’t believe it yes it is live it is

live cat calm says I completed my

software course last week great

fantastic congratulations okay

others he won a race again and received

a gold medal says Lucas fantastic okay

Nestor says I acquired a set of English

skills looking back on 2019 fantastic

many of you are writing about improving

your English or I improved my English in

2019 that is fantastic that’s really

really great to hear I’m happy for you

guys

someone says I graduated a course in

clinical something the comments are

going very fast

okay monday says I earned my pH MD last

year Wow congratulations that’s amazing

awesome there are lots of cool

achievements from all around the world

that’s awesome okay so with that so

simple past tense practice let’s take

one quick break and then we’ll move to a

different grammar point this one so

we’re going to practice present perfect

everyone’s favorite present perfect and

present perfect continuous so quick

break I guess we don’t need the web the

second camera today I can talk at it but

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let’s continue to part two for today’s

lesson if you have not already please do

make sure to like and share this video

so that other learners can find today’s

lesson our last lesson of 2019

today’s topic is how to talk about your

achievements the things that you achieve

the things you did your successes for

the year then let’s carry on to part two

part 2 for today it’s about everyone’s

favorite grammar point present perfect

tense present perfect tense and I’m

going to cover continuous as well so

first let’s take a look at when we use

this so a review moment a moment of

review we use the present perfect to

describe actions that started in the

past and continued to the present this

can also refer to the effect of an

action that continues to the present so

I showed you I showed you this lovely

diagram for simple past tense for an

action that started and ended in the

past so every

is finished there’s no relationship to

the present let’s compare this then to

present perfect so similarly I’m not

going to write all the things if this

star again is now imagine that when we

are using present perfect tense we’re

describing this action that started in

the past and then it continues to the

current moment it continues to the

conversation so this action is still

true or the effects of some action

affect the present affected effects

sorry so let’s let’s keep this point in

mind this is a key difference with a

simple past tense okay so let’s take a

look at a couple of examples sentences I

will use simple I will use a continuous

form a little bit here so let me see

what should I introduce to you first

okay let’s go with this one so I’ll use

this I’ve been working so here’s the

grammar point I’ve been working on a new

series for a year and it’s nearly done

okay so what is happening in this

sentence first I’m using present perfect

continuous here right here I’ve been

working I’ve been working I’ve been

working on a new series so new series

actually this is true I’ve been working

on a new series a new video series this

is true for me for a year and it’s

nearly done so this means for a year

I’ve been working on this thing so that

means one year ago about I started this

activity and it continues to this

present point in time so I’ve been

remember this I’ve is the reduced form

of I have I’ve been working I’ve been

working so some of you might say like

what’s the difference why can’t you say

like I’ve worked

on a new series for a year the reason I

chose to use the continuous form in this

sentence is because I want to emphasize

that this is not done yet

like I’m still actively slowly working

on this this particular project so when

I want to emphasize the continuing

nature when I want to emphasize that

something is not finished yet it’s still

in progress I would choose to use this

continuous form I’ve been working on a

new series for a year all right let’s

look then at one more I have a couple of

expressions that I want to introduce to

everybody actually so this next example

sentence will do that okay this next one

is as of this month as of this month

I’ve managed our team for five years

okay

as of this month I’ve managed our team

for five years so first here is my

present perfect grammar

I’ve managed I’ve managed so you’ll

notice in this example sentence I’m not

using the continuous form I’m not saying

I’ve been managing our team for five

years so the reason that someone would

probably choose this instead of the

continuous form is because it’s like

you’re just stating a fact I just want

to state a fact about like the situation

in my workplace so starting five years

ago and going to now like until now this

has been the situation so I started

being the manager five years ago I

continue to be the manager it’s just a

simple fact so I’m not like actively

doing a project maybe it’s my position

and that’s all I want to mention so I’ve

managed our team I have managed our team

for five years the other thing that I

want to point out here is this

expression

as of this month as of this month in

particular I want to focus on this as of

point in time so this means it’s like

saying from this point in time so as of

like today or as of last month

whatever that means from that specific

point in time this thing is true so this

means as of this month

for example December now I’ve managed

our team for five years so that means

this sentence was not true three months

ago it means from this point in time but

we don’t may be generally oh we wouldn’t

say may be some people might say like

from this month but this one tends to

sound a little bit clearer as of point

in time this thing is true so starting

at this point in time this thing is true

so as that’s what adds of means here

okay

some examples are coming in I think some

people yes are using the continuous I’ve

been studying English for a year

good there’s one someone says is this

American English yes this is American

English okay

monday says i’ve been working as an

expert neurosurgeon for 26 years well

really that’s cool

super cool ah as of next year uh-oh bori

on facebook as of next year I will have

senior English I will have watched your

English videos for 100 years well I know

it’s just a joke comment as of next year

so if you want to use this point I just

talked about to talk about a future

situation so as of next year you need to

use a future tense expression to do that

today I’m focusing on past and perfect

tense expressions past perfect but you

can use a future tense so as of next

year I will have lived in this city for

10 years something like that I will have

something so you need to consider a

future and past when you use this -

alright on to another example sentence

one more

next one similarly I want to introduce a

key phrase so far this year so far this

year our team has opened six restaurants

okay so we imagine we are working in the

restaurant industry purposes of the

sentence okay so first our present

perfect is right here so our team our

team has opened our team has opened so

we’re using house here because it’s like

it our team so we’re not thinking of

this as we we’re thinking of team in the

same way as we think of like the subject

it so a team is it here so our team has

opened six restaurants my other key

point is this so far this year in

particular this so far this year so if

we imagine maybe we say this sentence in

October so far this year so that means

from the beginning of the year until

this point in the year this is our

achievements this is what we have

achieved so using this so far this year

sounds like there’s still time for more

things to happen so this kind of has a

little bit of like optimism so there’s a

bit of like a positive feel here yeah so

it’s like so far this year we’ve done

this but there’s a chance we can

continue or there’s a chance we can do

more as well so so far plus a point in

time so far this year like so far this

month or so far today so it sounds like

this is what I have done up until now

and there’s a possibility that more can

happen okay I think I have one more ooh

ooh maybe I don’t have time for one more

I will yeah okay I will not include my

last example sentence

so okay I am looking for your example

sentences I don’t see it I don’t really

see any others one marion says as of

this year we’ve reached 1 million

YouTube followers really is that true

congratulations as of this year we have

3 million YouTube followers we’re

approaching 3.5 maybe soon whew thanks

to everybody who watches us Lucas says

so far this decade my basketball team

has won three finals wow that’s cool

very nice it’s very nice Conn melete

says so far this year I’ve learned new

programming languages okay nice you

might include the number there to be

specific like so far this year I’ve

learned two new programming languages

like being specific is great and for um

when you can use these grammar points

yes today we’re talking about it because

it’s the end of the year but this stuff

is really good to use in interviews and

like on your resume and like when you’re

talking to people for work for work

purposes alright quick break and then

we’ll go to the last point for today’s

lesson okay so if you have not checked

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look see what you think okay let’s go to

the final point for today’s lesson the

final point for today’s lesson is

past perfect and past perfect continuous

another tricky grammar point also if you

have not already please do make sure to

give this video a thumbs up and share it

as well so that other people can find

our lesson today alright teacher do you

have the flu that the teacher Alisha has

a little bit of a cold she is mostly

recovered though she just sounds a

little stuffy so stuffy means I’m

congested the word is congested the

casual word is stuffy I’m kind of stuffy

that means my nose is kind of tight yes

alright anyway moving on to the last

point past perfect so past perfect and

past perfect continuous again when

should we use these grammar points what

is this even for so past perfect we use

to talk about a past action obviously if

past is in the name a past action

continuing so a past continuing action

sorry you can’t see a past continuing

action but this past continuing action

has a relationship to another action in

the past so there are usually two things

to past actions or past activities we

need to consider when we’re talking when

we’re using past perfect and past

perfect continuous we often use this

grammar point when we’re talking about

an interrupted action or like when we

want to talk about something that

happened in the past at the same time as

something else so I’ll share some

examples of this also a hint

for your writing that for whatever

reason many native speakers don’t get if

you are writing something like if you’re

writing a even a diary entry or a

journal entry when you practice if you

need to talk about - past tense

situations in the same sentence use past

perfect tense

sorry use past perfect tense to talk

about the earlier thing so whatever is

the furthest thing in the past use past

perfect

tense for that then use simple past

tense for the thing that was most recent

to the present so I have it written here

I’ll say it again if you need to talk

about - past tense situations in one

sentence use past perfect to refer to

the earlier one and simple past tense

for the other so this is something that

I think a lot of native speakers that

don’t always do so let’s take a look at

some examples of how to do this all

right

a long one uh okay here we go I’d been

studying computer science

I’ve been studying computer science for

three years

what was the ending of my examples for

three years when I got my first job good

uh when I got my first job at an IT

company okay so this is a great sentence

for you like that you can use on a like

a letter of introduction or you could

say this sentence in an interview so

let’s break this down first your past

perfect past perfect in this case

continuous I’d been studying I’d been

studying computer science so this right

here is a key I’d I’d I had been

studying computer science for three

years when right here this one is

important because this is marking the

other past activity marked here with

simple past tense when I got my first

job at an IT company so this sentence

it’s kind of hard for me to fit another

timeline and so I’ll put it here

so here what we’re seeing in this

sentence again same timeline is before

we’re seeing this action studying

computer science I’ve made this too

short studying computer science started

three years ago continued for three

years yeah so at this point

the speaker began studying computer

science it continued for three years and

then right here the speaker got his or

her first job at an IT company but this

all happened before the present

conversation so we’re showing this

relationship by using past perfect for

this action continuous to show that it

was continuing and then simple past

tense to mark the point of the second

action the second past action so this is

the how we use past perfect and simple

past tense together I’d been studying

computer science for three years when I

got my first job at an IT company so

this when marks the point at which a new

action kind of enters what does IT mean

information technology information

technology it’s quite long so we usually

say ID okay do I have time for one more

example sentence no no oh no oh no no no

really I will say one can I just say one

okay my other one my other one was we’d

completed all the design updates by the

time the app launched we’d completed all

the design updates by the time the apps

launch I will write it but I won’t

explain it we I’m in trouble

we’ve completed all the design updates

by the time by the time the app launched

okay I will write it there what I really

wanted to talk about with this sentence

was the expression by the time by the

time so if you’ve studied a little

grammar you know we use by to mark

deadlines so that means up until this

point so we were able to do this by this

point so this is like marking a deadline

that’s the difference between by the

and when maybe I can talk about that in

a live stream in the future see ya I’m

out of time and I’ll be in trouble if I

keep talking I could go forever so I’ll

stop there so this is a little more

advanced grammar point where you need to

consider the relationship between two

past actions but this can really help to

make your your past experiences your

expressions of your past experiences a

richer and a little bit deeper too so I

have to finish okay some examples are

coming in I had been playing basketball

for three months when I moved to this

city so make sure your second verb is

past tense past tense there all right so

I have to end there Wow just like that

2019 is finished

that was a super-fun year thank you very

much to everybody for joining us this

week and thank you very much for

watching us live and for joining us live

for sending your example sentences and

your questions and your funny comments

we really appreciate it

we really appreciate you joining us

every week we will of course be back

next year I think it next the next week

the one right after New Year’s like on

January 1st I don’t think we’re gonna be

able to I think we might have a holiday

I might have holidays so for sure unless

something mysterious happens the next

one will be January 8th I believe of

course if you want to be absolutely sure

you can set a notification on YouTube or

a notification on Facebook to make sure

that you don’t miss our live lessons so

the next life topic will be oh yeah how

to make your English study plan for 2020

so I know maybe many of you need a

little boost at the beginning of the

year for your language goals so I’ll

talk about how to make your 2020 English

study plan so again thank you all very

very much for watching us live and

participating with us live throughout

the year we really really appreciate it

if you like please make sure to have a

look at the stuff this our big

for the end of the year I hope you find

something that is helpful for you I hope

you have a very happy holiday and a

wonderful new year and enjoy your time

off we will see you again in 2020 bye

bye