Meaning & use
presentation present
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Meanings
nouncountablespecialist
The present-tense form of a verb used when describing what you are doing as you speak or perform.
Grammar: Countable and usually used with the definite article: the presentation present.
Patterns
- use the presentation present
- the presentation present of a verb
In 'I add the flour now', the verb 'add' is a presentation present.
Teachers often show the presentation present by narrating a cooking task aloud.
nouncountablespecialist
A tense choice in which a speaker reports events in the present tense even though they happened earlier.
Grammar: Countable; it names one particular tense choice, so it takes an or the.
Patterns
- in the presentation present
- switch to the presentation present
Telling a joke in the presentation present makes it feel immediate.
The storyteller switched to the presentation present for the climax of the tale.
Word forms
| plural | presentation presents |
|---|
Common combinations
- use the presentation present
- Good narrators use the presentation present to keep listeners involved.
- in the presentation present
- The whole anecdote is told in the presentation present.
- switch to the presentation present
- She switched to the presentation present halfway through her report.
- the presentation present of a verb
- Here the presentation present of 'mix' describes an action happening on screen.
Synonyms and how they differ
- present tense
- The general grammatical term; it covers all present uses, while presentation present names only the live-narration use.
- historic present
- Very close in meaning, but historic present stresses past events retold, whereas presentation present stresses accompanying action.
Opposites
Word family
- present noun
- the tense form of a verb that usually refers to now.
- presentational adjective
- relating to how something is shown or performed.
Commonly confused: presentation present or presentation?
presentation present vs presentation
'Presentation' is a talk or display given to an audience; 'presentation present' is a grammar term and is never used for a talk.
Practice
Which sentence best illustrates the presentation present?
Choose one answer.
'I take the eggs and beat them well' describes each step as it happens, which is the presentation present. The first option is simple past, the third is future, and the fourth is past perfect, so none of them narrates live action.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “presentation present”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.