Structural variation in tense usage in Nigerian and British English: A corpus-based comparative study

This study investigated structural variation in tense usage between Nigerian English (ICE-Nigeria) and Standard British English (BNC) through a corpus-based comparative approach. Using data drawn from both spoken and written genres in the two corpora, the analysis combined quantitative frequency counts with qualitative examination of concordance lines to identify patterns in the present, past, and future tenses. The present tense emerged as the most frequent in both varieties, but Nigerian English demonstrated an extended functional range for the progressive aspect, including its use with stative verbs and for habitual actions. In the past tense, both varieties exhibited similar proportions of regular and irregular forms, but Nigerian English showed higher use of the past continuous and past perfect, suggesting a preference for explicit temporal sequencing. For the future tense, both corpora favoured will, though Nigerian English retained more frequent use of shall, reflecting formal register tendencies. These findings were interpreted within Kachru’s World Englishes framework, highlighting Nigerian English as a nativised variety shaped by indigenous language influence, sociocultural norms, and historical contact with British English. The study argued that these patterns were systematic rather than erroneous, underscoring the legitimacy of Nigerian English as a distinct variety. The results had implications for English language teaching in Nigeria, advocating for pedagogical approaches that recognised local usage patterns while maintaining international intelligibility. The research demonstrated the value of corpus-based methods in capturing grammatical variation and called for further comparative studies across African Englishes to deepen understanding of tense usage in World Englishes.