Tagged Questions
0
votes
2answers
45 views
Is reported speech reasonable in this example? [closed]
What is the right word to the gap (21)? (had/have)
That is about 400 years earlier than when the Inca Indians were
thought to (21) __ discovered the silver in the ground.
I think it's had as ...
0
votes
1answer
76 views
Can we use past perfect progressive in the context where present tense is predominantly used?
As I understand, past perfect is used to express an action that had happened before something else in the past. But in the paragraph I came across, there appeared past perfect progressive in the ...
0
votes
3answers
142 views
Infinitive vs. Past Simple for short technical annotations [duplicate]
I use source control management software at work. When I commit some changes, I annotate them with the bare infinitive like this:
"add new feature", "fix bug #10012"
I note that some of my ...
-3
votes
1answer
169 views
past perfect and past continuous [closed]
Which of these is correct?
Before he had come to the factory, Tom was studying at the University of London.
Before he came to the factory, Tom had studied at the University of London.
0
votes
1answer
99 views
Reported Speech Tense Choice [closed]
Which of the followings sentences would be the best choice?
The victim explained how he became addicted five years ago...
His addiction is so bad that he is unable to keep a steady ...
2
votes
3answers
216 views
Answering past simple question with past continuous
For example,
— What did you do yesterday?
— I was working.
I presume this is not grammatically correct; however, I often reply in this way (I'm English). Also vice versa: "What were you doing ...
1
vote
4answers
221 views
“I came from Italy” or “I come from Italy”
If I originally lived in Italy and then moved to the United States and currently live in the United States. Then somebody asked me where I am from. I say:
I come/came from Italy.
Should it ...
1
vote
1answer
100 views
American native speaker and perfect tenses
Yesterday I sent my friend a useful gift in online game. Today I can see he has not accepted it yet. Which sentence is grammatically correct and most natural in American English?
"You didn't ...
1
vote
4answers
423 views
How to avoid past/future tense?
I'm writing a Software Design Document. It is being written in parallel to the development, so as some features are already finished they are written in past tense (the only way I know of articulating ...
5
votes
1answer
320 views
Is every sentence in a tense?
I know that "tense" indicates time. If that is true, then not every sentence can be indicated of its tense.
Please review these sentences:
"If I could go to the market , I must have taken breakfast ...
1
vote
1answer
194 views
Past vs Past Perfect
While writing a paper for my English class, I couldn't decided whether past or past perfect tense was needed. It's basically about how a guy whose house is destroyed because the government wants to ...
5
votes
3answers
373 views
“When we worked together” vs “when we were working together” or can I use “when” with continous tenses?
In one Russian discussion group devoted to ESL, I was advised that using when with continuous tenses is incorrect in English.
To be exact, we were discussing how to translate a phrase about one’s ...
-1
votes
1answer
344 views
Replacing past perfect tense with past tense
For had fallen in a when-clause, can the past perfect tense be replaced with the past tense?
Easily the most boring class was History of Magic, which was the only
one taught by a ghost. ...
1
vote
1answer
856 views
Confused by the past tense and the present tense
Suppose I'm talking about some design scheme. I say something like
"foo was once designed and implemented in a way called bar that ...". Then I want to introduce the original scheme "bar", for ...
5
votes
2answers
332 views
“The author wrote” vs. “the author writes”
What is the rule for the following examples?
In the passage, the author writes. . . .
In the passage, the author wrote. . . .
I’m trying to explain to my son that both are correct, but I can’t ...
1
vote
2answers
381 views
What tense is “You were unable to do it.”?
"You were unable to do it."
Can you describe the tense of this sentence? Is it Past Progressive?
3
votes
2answers
124 views
Tenses and completeness of actions
When one uses simple past tense for some action, does it imply that the action is complete?
For instance, when you say “I wrote my article yesterday,” does this imply that at this moment you have a ...
-2
votes
1answer
210 views
Past or present perfect tense for event happened last night [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How do the tenses in English correspond temporally to one another?
Since watching TV is a completed action which happened last night, which one is correct?
Last ...
0
votes
1answer
426 views
He has just been offered or he was offered
What are the differences in meaning between the below two sentences:
He was just offered a well-paid job with Radio Four. (Past Simple Passive)
He has just been offered a well-paid job with ...
3
votes
3answers
4k views
“Lept” vs. “leapt” vs. “leaped”
After reading this discussion, I'd like to know what example sentences distinguish the meaning of the words lept, leapt, and leaped from each other?
2
votes
1answer
141 views
Is this incorrect; am I mixing tenses here? [closed]
Is this correct?
I don't miss my deadlines, even when I worked for a high pressure educational software
company, which required quick, effective reasoning without compromising the quality of the
...
-1
votes
4answers
1k views
I lived vs I used to live
I cannot see any difference between these two sentences. I assume both express the same but what is the difference? I thought that "used to" is used to describe an action that was happening in the ...
1
vote
2answers
276 views
Unreal vs real time in that example
I have following sentences :
She looks as if she is ill. //she really looks ill
She looks as if she was ill //she definitely is not, I am being ironic or whatever
And when I shift these into ...
-2
votes
3answers
4k views
“I met” vs “I've met” [closed]
What's the difference between the following?
I met him in the UK.
I've met him in the UK.
Does the second sentence mean that the event was happened recently?
0
votes
1answer
834 views
Simple past vs. Past perfect [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How do the tenses in English correspond temporally to one another?
What's the difference between the following two sentences?
I had finished reading the book ...
2
votes
3answers
451 views
What tense to use here (sending an email)
What should be the correct tense:
Dear XY,
As agreed, I am sending / I send this email so you can find...
2
votes
3answers
2k views
Question about interrogations in past tense
In regard to this answer, my question is similar but that answer is not clear. I want to know why we use base form of verb, e.g. 'go' to form the past tense instead of past form such as 'went'?
...
6
votes
4answers
913 views
Tenses after “as if”
"I'll always remember this rule as if I had just learned it"
Do you consider this sentence grammatically correct?
The main clause refers to the future, so I guess that the Past Simple would ...
1
vote
2answers
484 views
Simple Past or Past Perfect
If I went to a place last night where I needed to show an id, but I forgot to have it on me. So if in the morning I was speaking to a friend(reporting on what happened), which one of the following ...
1
vote
2answers
770 views
“If I was”/“If I were”: what's the right usage and why? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“If I was” or “If I were”. Which is more common, and which is correct?
From what I have read so far both are correct and was is used in an ...
2
votes
2answers
433 views
Using verb tenses correctly
I'm trying to keep this descriptive essay in the past tense. I bolded the words of my concern (and italicized the ones I believe are in the right tense) in the following passage:
As a result of ...
2
votes
1answer
188 views
Is it okay to use Past Simple with Past Progressive for two consecutive actions?
Is it okay to use Past Simple with Past Progressive for two consecutive actions?
For example,
"She added some water to the flour and was mixing it until she got a lump of dough"
or should it be
...
4
votes
2answers
12k views
“Has been” vs. “was”
Should one use has been or was in the following sentence, and why?
For many years the USA has been a British colony.
For many years the USA was a British colony.
1
vote
2answers
820 views
Past tense vs Past participle tense [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Present perfect tense versus past tense
Here is the example:
I haven't spoken any English for more than 3 years.
vs.
I didn't speak any English over the past 3 ...
3
votes
2answers
892 views
“They knew what mercy is” vs. “they knew what mercy was”
They knew what mercy is.
They knew what mercy was.
Mercy is something that always exists so can I say is as in the above example?
1
vote
3answers
1k views
When do I use present perfect tense instead of the simple past?
I've finished my work.
I finished my work.
When do I use one or the other?
4
votes
3answers
434 views
Tense change: previous actions on something that's currently true
I'm describing a situation that happened in the past. To explain it, I want to use a description that is both true now and true when the situation happened.
Specifically, I want something like:
...
2
votes
2answers
741 views
How to describe the future in the past
I've always used would as the past tense of will:
Present: Tomorrow, I will go to the beach.
Past: The following day, I would go to the beach.
However, in response to my question on ...
5
votes
3answers
342 views
“He didn't know where New Jersey was”
I know the past tense carries the past tense in every dependent clause, but referring specifically to places or to things that are eternal, like the Earth, seems a bit weird and therefore we sometimes ...
4
votes
2answers
4k views
What is the difference between “I forgot” and “I had forgot”?
I forgot versus I had forgot. What is the difference between the two phrases?
