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Here are some examples :

1) The mangoes (will ripe/ripe/will ripen) over time said John.

2) The least considered in the latest Terrorist attacks (are/were/was) the innocent victims.

My choice for 1) would be:

  • "ripe" if it is considered as a fact, so present tense is good choice.

  • "will ripe" if it is considered as an opinion of John rather than a fact; the sentence is in the past tense, so past tense is good choice.

My choice for 2) would be:

  • "were" if it is in newspaper article and it describes a past event.

  • "are" if it is live reporting of a statement.

I have checked them in this checker, and results show that all of the options are correct.

EDIT1 :And what about:

This (calls/calls for/calls against) a treat.

Uprooting plants (is/are/have been/was) like uprooting your life.

Also please suggest most critical points to consider if possible while answering such questions and apologies for not following the standards for asking the question, i am a newbie so i am getting acquainted with it.But I have done research for these questions and did not get the answer , that's why asked here.

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Your first two grammarly-checked options are wrong: "The mangoes will ripen over time" is the only correct option. For your second example, I wouldn't use 'were'. The question states 'latest attacks' for a reason - to eliminate the past tense option. The latest attacks could be three months ago, but it is unlikely. – Roaring Fish Jun 29 '12 at 16:36
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Too Localised/General Reference – FumbleFingers Jun 29 '12 at 17:35
"Uprooting plants" cannot be "are" or "have been" because it is singular. Note the key word is "uprooting", a verb functioning as a noun. Of course "plants" is plural, but it is not the plants that are doing something here, but the uprooting. Most likely you would use "is", because this sounds like a general philosophical statement. If you were talking about one particular incident you might use "was", like if someone had just told you about a time he uprooted plants, and you replied, "Yes, uprooting plants was like" etc. – Jay Jun 29 '12 at 18:38
thanks @Jay for the answer .. got it – gaurav sharma Jun 29 '12 at 19:05

closed as too localized by JLG, FumbleFingers, Barrie England, Mahnax, Daniel δ Jun 29 '12 at 17:43

This question is unlikely to help any future visitors; it is only relevant to a small geographic area, a specific moment in time, or an extraordinarily narrow situation that is not generally applicable to the worldwide audience of the internet. For help making this question more broadly applicable, see the FAQ.

1 Answer

up vote 9 down vote

Ripe isn't a verb; ripen is. You need a verb there in order for the sentence to be grammatical. So for 1, you should have:

"The mangoes will ripen over time," said John.

Now for 2, either are or were would make grammatical sense. The singular was does not agree with the plural subject victims. But between are (present tense) and were (past), either would work because the time in question could be in the past or in the relative present ("in the latest terrorist attacks"):

The least considered in the latest terrorist attacks were the innocent victims.

or

The least considered in the latest terrorist attacks are the innocent victims.

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This calls for a treat is correct. The other two don't make sense. Calls for is a phrasal verb meaning is an appropriate occasion for. – Daniel δ Jun 29 '12 at 16:44
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@gauravsharma It would be better if you took some time and considered your questions prior to posting them, so that all of your question could be addressed at once. Asking multiple questions across comments will not be helpful to future readers, and makes it hard to answer you. – Mark Beadles Jun 29 '12 at 17:38
Seems like there is an ambiguity between views of @daniel and roaring-fish...which one is most appropriate option plz suggest..i am just a newbie ... – gaurav sharma Jun 29 '12 at 17:43
Both are and were are OK; they both make sense. As Roaring Fish says, though, are is probably indicated because the sentence sounds a lot like it's talking about the present. – Daniel δ Jun 29 '12 at 17:45
anyways thanks @Danielδ for your time, answer and views – gaurav sharma Jun 29 '12 at 18:19
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