Questions tagged [past-tense]
This tag is for questions related to usage of the past tense in English.
1,076
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What's the difference between 'hanged' and 'hung'?
I was learning the difference between hanged and hung and encountered this article.
Now, I can't understand what it's trying to teach me because it says we use 'hung' when talking about inanimate ...
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Passive or Adjective 'respected' [closed]
Is the following sentence passive or is 'respected' used an adjective?:
He is respected.
And how would one know the difference?
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Help with writing in the past tense. What tense to use when showing a continuous future event?
Alden cleared the China from the breakfast table, smeared with bits of eggs and grits, and stacked them next to the sink. Just because she had a full time housekeeper, didn’t mean she was an animal.
...
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3
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Past and present perfect tense in scientific articles
There are various questions about this, but none that I found provided me with a satisfying answer. My problem lies mainly in the part of the paper were I introduce the necessary background, and in ...
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Past simple or present perfect simple?
Why did he change his name?
Why has he changed his name?
Why did he change the spelling of his name?
Why has he changed the spelling of his name?
I'm curious whether the present perfect versions are ...
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1
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The use of "would have + [participle verb]" in the narration of the movie Reprise (2006)
The narration starts like this:
Their manuscripts would have been accepted immediately.
They would’ve been published the next fall.
Finally, they would’ve been authors.
My first thought is, because &...
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It's About Time you Knew or It's about time you know [duplicate]
Would like to know which version is proper:
It's about time you know
It's about time you knew
Some examples:
It's about time you know about a cancer diagnosis
It's about time you knew about a ...
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What is the past tense of "cheers"? (As in a toast) [closed]
Example:
They raised their glasses and cheersed.
However, most dictionaries say that "cheersed" isn't a word.
Just using the normal past tense for "cheer" would be "cheered&...
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past tense and possessive
In my textbook:
I bought my car yesterday. ［incorrect］
Because, Until I buy that car, it doesn't belong to me.
I bought a car yesterday (for myself). ［correct］
From 'English Grammar in Use':
The ...
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What tense should be used for the verb "film"? Why? [closed]
I was presented with this question on a test paper:
_______(film) in various parts of China, Unexplored Land presents the great diversity of China's ecosystem and throws fresh light on the concept of ...
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Can past perfect continuous tense be substituted for past continuous without any change in meaning? [duplicate]
If you search for any video or article that teaches the past perfect continuous tense, you'll surely come across an example such as:
"He had been throwing rocks at her window for five minutes ...
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Is this use of the present perfect tense correct?
I've noticed a style of mixed grammar (that for some reason seems popular with sports managers and players) for describing past events that sounds awkward to me. Imagine someone is recounting events ...
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Can "may have" be used in a past-tense narrative?
In a narrative written in third person past tense, such as you'd find in most published books, can the phrase "may have" be used after verbs like "thought" or "said"? As ...
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Please help me to explain why past continuous tense is used in that case [closed]
A : Do you bring your lunch today ?
B : No, I was thinking about going out
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Should I say "What I ended up doing is" or "what I ended up doing was"?
I was wondering whether I should use 'is' or 'was' in this phrasing:
What I ended up doing is restarting her phone.
What I ended up doing was restarting her phone.
If both are correct, is there any ...
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1
answer
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Can Irrealis 'Were' Be Used in the Past Tense?
By reading The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, I have managed to gain an understanding of remote conditionals. My research has demonstrated that irrealis 'were' is ordinarily used in remote ...
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The subjunctive in a hypothetical scenario of a historical event
To the prompt "What historical moment would you like to have participated in?", my ESL student chose a Queen Live Aid concert, saying:
I’m a huge fan of Queen and Freddie Mercury so I think ...
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was bought vs. has been bought [closed]
What is the correct way to say this:
The launch was successful and the company was bought by a competitor 2 years after I left.
or
The launch was successful and the company has been bought by a ...
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33
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Present perfect with past tense VS two present perfect
Which is the correct one?
"Ever since I met you, you have never asked me what I prefer"
Compare to
"Ever since I have met you, you have never asked me what I prefer"
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1
answer
58
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Why past tense for unreal present? [closed]
I was wondering why exactly past tense is used in the unreal present conditional (type 2).
I once heard that past tense gives a sense of "distance" when contrasted with present, but I'm not ...
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"has been" or "was" in a specific case [duplicate]
I published a software on the internet in 2021. So far,
20000 people have downloaded it and tried once then given up (Category A)
10000 people have downloaded it and used more than one time in a ...
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How to use a past event as the subject of a sentence?
I am not a native speaker. My question in the title arise from an actual sentence I wanted to write. "Phone rang interrupted."
Imagine this timeline for context:
Employee was talking to ...
2
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1
answer
92
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Present tense or past tense
I was doing a grammar practice question where we are to spot the mistakes in the sentences and I came across this sentence:
It was only when I came closer to it that I realized it wouldn’t be as easy ...
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Past Tense after "if"
“A letter?” repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. “Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He’ll be ...
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What is correct: "did you do smth and do smth" or "Did you do smth and did smth"?
I'm trying to figure out which form is correct when composing such a question:
"Did you go there and forget to eat?"
"Did you go there and forgot to eat?"
Not the most creative ...
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2
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29
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Use of simple future perfect in the past [duplicate]
I've recently come across this sentence:
The young Nietzsche will have come across the term Kreuzspinne in his German edition of Emerson's The Conduct of Life.
I'm confused as to why the author used ...
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Grammatical correctness of "He hasn't punished one of them— not one of them— since baby is born," [duplicate]
So I was reading a story called 'Desiree's Baby' and I saw this sentence appear, when one character (Desiree) was telling her mother that her husband was so happy upon the birth of her child, that he ...
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1
answer
46
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“He’s made new friends when he changed roles” [closed]
Present perfect and past simple in the same sentence?
He’s made new friends when he changed roles.
Is this sentence grammatically correct?
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57
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Until it stops or stopped? Reported speech question
"I told him to wait until the rain stops" or "i told him to wait until the rain stopped"
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78
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Why is past simple being used in these sentences instead of past perfect? [duplicate]
I'm doing an Anki Deck that consists of "Advanced English Grammar" and I don't understand why in examples below I can't use the form I'm suggesting, but instead have to use the form that is ...
2
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1
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119
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Why are write/wrote, ride/rode but strike/struck?
Why do write and ride change to o in the simple past (wrote/rode) but strike changes to u (struck)?
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How do I use "would" when talking about the past in the context of storytelling?
I'm currently translating a book from my mother tongue, Portuguese, to English.
When translating certain sentences about the past, which describe recurrence, I repeatedly resort to would in situations ...
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Why does the verb "was" indicate the fact that no longer exists?
I often see on the Internet one sentence,
He was rich. (He is not rich at present)
Why does the sentence have such an implication? Is it customary only for this sentence to express that meaning? ...
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Past perfect continuous
I'm confused about the past perfect continuous sentence. One YouTuber who is an English teacher is explaining that there is a slight difference between the following two sentences, which makes me ...
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"Destroyed" vs "Destroied" [closed]
I recently observed that a non native speaker of english use the word "destroied" instead of "destroyed". It made me wonder why it is not "destroied". For "cry" ...
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Should I use past tense or present tense for facts in a story that I'm telling in past tense? [duplicate]
I learned simple present tense is used for universal truths or facts. If I'm telling the story in past tense, and I have to say a fact, should I use simple present tense?
Example:
They ran from the ...
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How many past perfect tense instances can be used in one sentence?
There's a sentence in which I have to express that one activity took place more recently than the other three. It's a classic case when past perfect should be used, but how does it look in terms of ...
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I would like to know which option is the right one: Why did... or Why has...? [closed]
Why did the dog make so much noise this night?
Why has the dog made so much noise this night?
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How would you phrase a question to a person that regressed spacetimewise? [closed]
This is quite confusing.
Let's say, there's this person who came back in time to their original state in that particular moment. So, they know exactly how things play out in their timeline point.
How ...
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0
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Do you use the past tense when talking about hypothetical situations?
Do you use the past tense when using the subjunctive mood to talk about hypothetical situations?
So if I were to write the following sentences, which wordings should I choose?
"If the car were to ...
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Why is "You survived" past simple? [closed]
Great, Tom! You survived this jump!
Why do we use past simple and not the present perfect there? We can see the result of surviving in the present, but still use past tense.
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2
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What is finished the verb or the object?
Is it correct to say?
A: What did you do yesterday?
B: I woke up, had a shower, wrote a book and then went to work. (I didn't write the whole book) 1:03 --- 1:10 a teacher from YouTube, please have a ...
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Unsure about the usage of Past Perfect Continuous in a specific sentence
Is it correct to use the Past Perfect Continuous form I had never been considering
in the sentence
Before I met you, I had never been considering visiting Italy
?
According to Grammarly,
The past ...
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I had a girlfriend. She (was/is) an american. Which one is correct and doesn't sound odd? [duplicate]
Which one doesn't sound odd and is correct?
"I had a girlfriend. She was an american."
Or
"I had a girlfriend. She is an american."
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Is it "The only thing my father taught me (was/is) how to respect women? [duplicate]
Which one should be used? Was or is? Which is more likely to sound odd?
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"The only thing they forgot to teach us is/was how to be a student." Which is right? "Is" or "was"?
Which sounds correct?
The only thing they forgot to teach is how to be a student.
Or
The only thing they forgot to teach was how to be a student.
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"I mean" in past tense narration is not "I meant" but is it the same for other similar construction? [closed]
My question is quite simple:
I have seen a lot of construction that start with "I mean," and here are a few examples:
I mean, you don't have to go to the dance.
I mean, it wasn't like you ...
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Using past tense for possible event in the future?
Can anyone help me with this? Here is a sentence:
I wanted to check and see if there was anything you need before I went on my maternity leave.
It's from The Office. And she asks the question before ...
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simple past or present perfect issue
I would like to ask the reason of using present perfect tense instead of past tense in the italic words in the sentence below:
She has gotten older since we last met her. She also seems to have ...
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“Had started” or “Started”?
As the bath oil facility is where the fire had started, its proximity to the island fruit trees means the fires spread onto the orchard farm.
I didn’t use “has started” because it’s already done. I’m ...
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