OET Writing for Doctors: Keep the Letter’s Timeline Clear

A professional letter may describe what happened earlier, what is true now and what the reader needs to do next. Using one tense throughout will not necessarily make it consistent. The important question is whether each change of tense accurately reflects the information.

Jobin Thomas’s English Grammar for Doctors: Tenses Edition includes sections on past perfect and mixing tenses in professional letters. This guide uses those topics to build a practical timeline check, with original examples about records and correspondence.

Put the events in order before writing

Mark the date of the letter, the dates of relevant past events, the current position and any planned next step. If something remains unknown, keep that uncertainty visible. Do not silently supply an outcome because it would make the paragraph easier to finish.

A simple planning sequence is enough: request sent; document received; review happening now; decision still awaited. You can then choose language that preserves those distinctions rather than treating every item as completed.

Use past simple for a clear past sequence

“The coordinator requested the records, and they arrived the next day” presents two past events in order. You do not need to turn every past event into “had requested” or “had arrived” merely because it happened before the letter was written.

Past perfect is useful when you look back from another past point: “By the time the meeting began, the records had arrived.” The arrival happened before the meeting. The tense helps establish that relationship.

Use a present form only when the current fact is supported

“The team is reviewing the records” describes an ongoing activity now. “The team reviewed the records” describes a past event. Choose between them from the information supplied, not from a preference for a more advanced-looking verb form.

Be careful about what tense alone cannot prove. A note that somebody reported a difficulty yesterday does not establish whether the difficulty has ended today. If its current status is not given, avoid adding an unsupported statement that it has resolved.

Keep a request distinct from a confirmed arrangement

“Please arrange a follow-up appointment” asks the recipient to act. “A follow-up appointment has been arranged” reports an action already completed. Replacing one with the other changes the message even if both sentences are grammatically correct.

Similarly, a proposed next step should not become a guaranteed event through an automatic change to “will.” Preserve conditions, requests and unresolved arrangements when turning notes into sentences.

Review the paragraph from the reader’s position

Read each verb and ask which point on your timeline it represents. Then check whether the reader can distinguish completed actions from ongoing ones without reconstructing the whole case. Add a relevant time phrase where it prevents confusion.

Explore OET Grammar — Course 8 for the course connected to this doctors’ tenses workbook. For feedback on applying grammar to your own letters, request one-to-one OET lessons on dates and times that fit your work rota and busy life, subject to tutor availability.

Source: OET GRA DOC 01 tenses.epub, Jobins Training. Examples labelled original or illustrative were written for this article. Independent exam preparation; no affiliation with or endorsement by the examining body. Practice does not predict an official score.