Questions tagged [past-tense]
This tag is for questions related to usage of the past tense in English.
0
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0answers
21 views
Difference between “didn't think“ and ”hadn't thought"?
what is the difference between “didn't think" and “hadn't thought" ?
I didn't think about the idea.
I hadn't thought about the idea.
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0answers
33 views
What makes progressive verbs different from atelic, and can a verb be both atelic/telic, and/or progressive?
From what I've been reading about progressive verb forms those types of verbs are more often atelic, but I'm wondering if there are progressive forms that are exceptions to that. Or how can atelic/...
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2answers
342 views
Are there verbs that are neither telic, or atelic?
These examples from wikipedia are shown as tests to find what is telic, or atelic.
Fine: "John built a house in a month."
Bad: *"John built a house for a month."
→ built a house is telic
Bad: *"...
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0answers
12 views
Past or progressive when using the conjunction “while”?
Would you say
She was taking a bath while her husband was reading
or
She took a bath while her husband was reading?
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1answer
25 views
Should I use did or the past tense of verb
Example :
If someone asks " did you walk him home?"
Should I say :
EX1: Yes! I did walk him home.
EX2: Yes! I walked him home.
So what is the difference between them? and when to use them correctly....
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2answers
36 views
Is the sentence “While i was traveling i had seen beautiful buildings.” ungrammatical?
Is the sentence “While i was traveling i had seen beautiful buildings.” ungrammatical?
I think this sentence is grammatical using past perfect to describe multiple events in past
but the answer says ...
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0answers
14 views
What is the different meaning of Present and Past Simple Tense
Past Simple Tense - I would always help someone who really needed help.
Present Simple Tense - I will always help someone who really needs help.
Can someone explain this confusion of mine and when ...
0
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1answer
21 views
Past Continuous Tense vs Past Perfect Continuous Tense
In the following sentences, which of the expressions in bold is correcet? Why is the other one not correct? How does the meaning change with each one?
My parents got engaged in 1990. They had ...
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1answer
37 views
Is “helped paved” construction correct? (It's very prevalent—perhaps it's dated?)
I am proofreading a text with the following sentence: "By the time Henry died, he had helped paved the way for the future of economics."
If "helped paved" is incorrect (and should be "helped pave" ...
-1
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0answers
21 views
Past tense, progressive, or something else?
He looked in the mirror brushing his teeth.
What's the tense of the above sentence. It seems like past progressive. But I'm trying to figure out what the "to be" part is.
Also what's this:
He ...
0
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0answers
38 views
Verb tense for “What I do remember is (noun) + (verb)…”
I can't remember what happened. What I do remember is the sound of
the television drowning in the silence of the falling snow. What I do
remember is you opening the door, and in the distant grey,...
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0answers
55 views
Past Simple or Present Perfect? [migrated]
I have a problem using those tenses in practice, or even analysing them in books or movies.
For example : A character says "I opened the doors" (well the doors are opened so he and his friends see ...
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1answer
33 views
I asked~ but she ' won't '… Why did they say 'won't'?
There is a exercise to practice some usages.
Q. I asked Sue what happened, but she doesn't tell / won't tell me
A. won't tell
I can't understand it. I chose another one, but I don't think that is ...
1
vote
1answer
64 views
Simple past tense of “may”
He was ecstatic to receive an email from the company asking to come in for an interview. It was the dream job he had been working so hard for. With some luck, he might actually get hired. He could ...
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2answers
29 views
“might” vs “might have” in a narrative set in the past
The men kept walking well into the night, because if it rained the
next day, they might not [reach / have reached] the village before the
enemy arrived. At around midnight, they came to a ...
1
vote
1answer
27 views
Past perfect vs Present perfect [duplicate]
Both sentences are in the past, what is the difference?
Mr X had driven them home.
Mr X has driven them home.
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1answer
29 views
Grammer for a timeline
I have a web page that I will add to as changes are done to our software. What is the correct grammer. For example:
March 2019
xxx company releases the 1.2.45 version ...
or
March 2019
xxx ...
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0answers
30 views
What is the tense of: is located [migrated]
Consider the sentence:
The shop is located near the bus stand.
Is it present tense? Doubt is ---- is a helping verb presentence
and located is past tense.
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0answers
45 views
how do we express something not true in the past?
If I were a bird, I would fly.
Here, if I were a bird means I am not a bird. Because I am not a bird I will not fly. Here, there is nothing that's "in the past". It's all in the present and not true.
...
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0answers
32 views
Using were/was + past participle or simple paste in this case is the best?
I would like to write : "His tongue clutched in mine as if they were melted together." Do I need the 'were' here or should I use it simply without. "His tongue clutched in mine as if they melted ...
0
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1answer
23 views
How to talk about actions with repetition in the past?
One way to talk about the actions that one commonly did in the past is using the modal "would". Now if I do not want to use it, how I can say my story.
For example,
When I was a lecturer, I go to ...
1
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1answer
20 views
Past continuous questions
I have a question about Past continuous from this following example.
" I was thinking that I wouldn't have any friends when I came here. "
" I was thinking that I wouldn't have any friends when I ...
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1answer
25 views
Is “would play” correct?
We had a small house with a large garden, and we would play in a garden for hours.
Is it correct to say "would play" in this context?
0
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1answer
39 views
What tense do I use for different actions in the past for dead people?
I want to refer to 2 kids and draw some parallelisms. John is alive now. Mark is dead.
John lives in New York. "Mark LIVED in New York" or "Mark USED TO LIVE in New York".
John likes to play soccer....
0
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1answer
15 views
Which one is correct in my case?
Which sentence in below is correct grammatically? In my case the event take place at past, and now i'm telling this to someone ...
"I became so immersed that i completely lost track of time. " or
"...
0
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1answer
90 views
Is it correct to say “I wished I had learnt something somehow”
Is it correct to say "I wished I had learnt something somehow"|| Is there a better way to say it in few words ?? (After much practicing I felt I was not getting good at a skill, so, in my childhood ...
0
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1answer
19 views
Was Exiled vs Exiled
I was wondering if these two sentences had a different meaning.
1) He came into power when his father, Gerald, was exiled to Europe during World War II.
2) He came into power when his father, Gerald,...
0
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0answers
22 views
Which tense is appropriate? Simple or Perfect? [duplicate]
Consider the following two sentences:
Many buildings were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666.
Many buildings had been destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666.
Which is appropriate, and why? I think ...
1
vote
1answer
41 views
past simple vs present perfect for dead people
Which tense to use when mentioning someone who is dead, but the institution or country that he founded still exists, as in the sentences below:
Atatürk has founded Turkey.
Atatürk founded ...
2
votes
3answers
55 views
Is it ok to say “something I will have come to learn later in the course”?
I have written
It lacks exact references to the book, something about argumentative analysis I will have come to learn later in the course.
I wonder if this is correct and what this tense would ...
1
vote
0answers
21 views
Modal verbs of probability
'I think the doctors didn't expect Bob to wake up.'
I must change this sentence using May. Which version is correct?
'The doctors may have not been expecting Bob to wake up.'
'The doctors may have ...
3
votes
2answers
211 views
Is this sentence grammatically correct: “She would make for a convincing Amy.” [closed]
This sentence is part of dialogue between producer and actor, when she was convincing them to cast her in film.
The film is ready now. During the premiere, they were recalling a previous moment that ...
2
votes
2answers
64 views
Completed action in the past lead to an ongoing action - which tense to use?
I am a bit confused about the proper tense for the following situation. I try to make an example:
A couple of weeks ago I talked to someone. We have not talked or communicated in any way again since ...
0
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1answer
31 views
Past Simple or Past Continuous
I don't know what I should use in this situation.
I will give you an example:
Mary drew / was drawing a family picture while her
grandparents were staying in Japan.
What is correct?
1
vote
1answer
188 views
Suitable verb form in the past tense sentence
There's the next sentence: "I saw Mr Brown ..... the building at two o'clock."
Which option would be the most appropriate to put in and why ? I really want to put in "was leaving", but there's no ...
0
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1answer
45 views
Can I use simple past along with present perfect like this?
The sentence is, for example,
The researchers investigated and found that due to the rise
of AI bots, most of the existing works have focused on protecting
the email services from spam.
Is this ...
2
votes
4answers
270 views
Is it right to say “phone was rang”?
Recently I saw these two sentences in two different books
So after dinner my cell phone was rang and it was Tom. (The Journey of Andrea: Make Sure You Live Your Life to the Fullest Before ...,By ...
0
votes
1answer
104 views
Can I use double past tense?
Firstly I am not English native speaker so when speaking we might speak English but the sentence structure in daily use might be different, but since I got a message from my family this morning I have ...
0
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1answer
35 views
Colloquial usage of past tense as future perfect
I have a Japanese friend who is learning English and recently posed me (a native speaker) a question that I am having trouble answering. The problem revolves around two statements:
I was able to ...
0
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1answer
205 views
I was waking up or I was going to wake up or i would wake up
I heard such sentence in a movie
"There was no chance I was waking up in the morning"
i understand the context and what the speaker wanted to say but
can I say it this way:
a) "There was no chance ...
1
vote
0answers
39 views
Why are English language essays written in past tenses?
As we are studying English from the nursery the thing that always confuses me is that whenever we write an essay it should be in past tenses and I always find difficulty in writing essays that way. I ...
0
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1answer
30 views
Past tense English conjugation in a whole sentence
You should have let me given you a ride home.
You should have let me give you a ride home.
Your should have let me gave you a ride home.
You should have let me driven you home.
You should have let ...
1
vote
2answers
585 views
i studied or was studying
Now I am 60years old and I want to say that sometime in the past i was at Oxford university 5 years for example but without a specific time in the past,30 or 40years ago etc.
1) "i have studied at ...
0
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1answer
39 views
2 forms of past participle with different meanings [closed]
I'm looking for more examples similar to this: "hanged vs. hung", namely the examples where both forms are correct but the meaning of each one is different. Can anyone help?
0
votes
2answers
24 views
condition actions in the future
I am having a problem defining the British English grammar used here.
The context is that I am chatting with my brother about taking my sister to see the sequel to a film and I do know if she has ...
0
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1answer
46 views
why is it okay to use “is” in front of “interested” [duplicate]
Is it grammatically right to say: "If he is interested in the project, he will ask you many questions"
It sounds alright to me and I noticed this uses future simple tense, however, I'm curious to ...
1
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1answer
68 views
is/are + past participle vs. have been + past particple
So I am really confused when to use past participle and have been + p.p
For example
In situations like the ones below
Are these dishes washed?
Have these dishes been washed?
(Washed and ...
0
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1answer
210 views
previously was/had been
So I asked a question that I knew I had asked a long time ago and actually made me think...
"Am I the only one whose program went back to how it previously was or not?"
The aforementioned quotation ...
0
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1answer
41 views
For reports written in present tense, which time is usually used for “citations”? Present or past tense?
In German reports, most of the time the present tense is used when followed by any kind of citation.
E.g.
- There is a need for more biocompostable plastics. The XYZ CEO says that...
- The CEO ...
0
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1answer
160 views
tense of “would be” (when used as a synonym for “was”)
In a school paper, my son wrote the sentence, "In 1763, the stalemate would be broken." His teacher told him to avoid the "past progressive tense." The phrase "would be" is clearly not an example of ...
