用错时态主要犯两种错误。有的时候应该用现在时,考生却用了过去时;还有一些“时间状语”本身并不明确,有的时候考生对“时间状语”理解错误,导致用错了时态。很多学习者用第一人称叙述自己亲身经历的事情时,往往用一般过去时。例如:I went to ……,当我问她问题时,如果含有“when”或时间状语含有明确的时间“yesterday”,那么学生的回答用过去时是没有问题的。然而,有时我的问题没有含有时间状语,或者含有ambiguoussignifiers like “sometimes”、“always”、“often”,有的学生还是用过去时,例如:What did you do yesterday? Where did you go? What do you usually doon Sunday? What do you like doing? What did you learn atschool? Did you often go to the gym with her? Did you learn musictoo? I have mentioned these questions several times to those students andI believe they do realize this kind of mistake.