Questions tagged [past-tense]
This tag is for questions related to usage of the past tense in English.
2
votes
3answers
43 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 ...
0
votes
0answers
36 views
Can I use Past Simple and Present Perfect alternately?
I have some problems with using Past Simple and Present Prefect. When I see in books or movies that some sentences could be used in both times because there are no characterestic times (last week, ...
-1
votes
0answers
17 views
Was to be a … Usage [closed]
I am writing academic paper, the background of the task, and I want to describe idea behind the product like so. It was to be a "something"... However I am not sure if that is a correct usage of the ...
1
vote
0answers
18 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
192 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
42 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
votes
1answer
26 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
39 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
votes
1answer
42 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
5answers
147 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
57 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
votes
1answer
32 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
votes
1answer
52 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
38 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
votes
1answer
29 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
127 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
votes
1answer
38 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
22 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
votes
1answer
41 views
why is it okay to use “is” in front of “interested”
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
vote
1answer
50 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
votes
1answer
71 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
votes
1answer
34 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
votes
1answer
58 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 ...
0
votes
1answer
58 views
The use of never
would somebody help me to correct this sentence:
"I thought being all alone was never this ugly"
Is it grammatically correct? Thanks
0
votes
1answer
39 views
Can we substitute “would have had” with “have” without altering the meaning?
The following sentence seems needlessly cumbersome. Can we rewrite it without changing its meaning?
But what I will say is that at the start of the season I'd have said
they would have had ...
1
vote
1answer
260 views
“I have been travelling” or “I had been…” or “I was…”?
My teacher asked me where had I been because I was very late.
What would be the best answer?
I have been travelling from my hometown to here, so I have came late
I had been travelling from…
I ...
1
vote
1answer
40 views
Is this true “have we been here yesterday”?
which one is true ?
haven't we been here before?
AND
hadn't we been here before?
I ask this question because i heard haven't we been here before? from music lyrics.
Isn't 'before' including the ...
-2
votes
1answer
74 views
Are these two form in the past ? Verb-ed = Did + Verb -> ( Past Tense )
I just took the SAT and there was one question I wasn't sure.
What's difference between verb-ed and did+verb?
For example, I did become = I became ? Past Tense?
1
vote
1answer
121 views
Is this use of “made” past tense or subjunctive tense?
I'm a senior Computer Engineering student, and I'm taking a required Ethics course this semester. We just wrote our first paper, and each of us had to grade the paper of another student in the class.
...
1
vote
2answers
53 views
The usage of “was” before “down the line”
The sentence: from NPR transcript
WOOD: John Derbyshire is - so he was a writer for the National Review. He has made claims such as intelligent, well-socialized African-Americans are as rare as ...
1
vote
0answers
51 views
Is this an example of indirect speech?
I wrote:
School starts in August next year? I thought it started in September.
I proposed that this is one good example of how grammar can confuse people because a preterite (started) is used to ...
1
vote
0answers
41 views
Writing a personal narrative and wondering if this application of present tense mixes with most of the sentence, which is in past tense
This sentence doesn't sound all that right, but at the same time I think it is.
I grabbed underwear, a tee with red sleeves and khaki shorts and
headed for the master bathroom, which houses the ...
2
votes
1answer
125 views
Switching tense in a sentence when describing events
I'm not sure whether the following sentences are grammatically correct:
A figure appeared at the window, waving happily.
and,
"Sure," he answered, pulling out a chair at the nearby table.
...
-1
votes
1answer
36 views
What is the difference between two sentences? [closed]
1)When the phone rang,I had been washing the dishes
2)when the phone rang,I was washing the dishes
0
votes
1answer
34 views
Installed with or with
I need to convey that the specific software has been installed on all PCs, so which one is right here ?
All PCs are installed with adobe now
All PCs are with adobe now
Here, Adobe is software name.
0
votes
1answer
480 views
What does definite and indefinite mean in past tense and present perfect respectively
I am reading the grammar book - A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language - these days. I am confused about the meanings of definite and indefinite in Past Tense and Present Perfect.
I know ...
2
votes
4answers
211 views
Can you use a past tense lexical verb in a main clause to refer to a future time?
This paper titled "TENSE AND TIME IN ENGLISH VERB CLUSTERS OF THE PRIMARY PATTERN" by V. H. Dudman (1983) seems to say the following sentence is possible English (page 27):
(6) According to our ...
-1
votes
1answer
249 views
“Have helped” or “helped”? [duplicate]
you have helped me (Present Perfect)
you helped me (Past Simple)
Which one is correct and why?
0
votes
2answers
74 views
“Previously, we met up with x” or “Previously, we meet up with x”
As above..
I am just wondering why so many people uses the sentence below -
"Few weeks ago, we meet up with..."
instead of using 'met up'.
0
votes
1answer
73 views
Using past perfect tense after past tense
Which sentence is more correct?
He helped an old woman. Then, everyone had known that he was a good man.
He helped an old woman. Now, everyone has known that he is a good man.
I know that past ...
1
vote
2answers
83 views
Why wasn't the past progressive tense used in: “As I flew over the city,…”
I saw the following sentence in a book titled Awaken The Giant Within
As I flew over the city of Glendale, I suddenly recognized a large building, and I stopped the helicopter and hovered above it"...
0
votes
1answer
209 views
Past modals and the passive: which one is correct?
Considering easily as an attitude or manner adverb, which of the following is correct?
He could easily have been killed.
or
He could have been easily killed.
0
votes
2answers
177 views
Use of two tenses in one sentence (“That's when I heard his voice…”)
In the book " Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" the author writes the following sentence.
"That's when I heard his voice, kind of squeaky(...)"
Is it correct to say "that is" ...
0
votes
1answer
66 views
Past continuous in a subjunctive mood sentence
I was doing some reviewing of the subjunctive mood when I stumbled on this:
In the that-clause, use a past tense form of the verb even if your
sentence has a present or future meaning:
I ...
1
vote
1answer
45 views
'They will have' to express a past event. Is this BrE only?
If the Police shut the High Street one day and my colleague asks me why, I may say to them :
They will probably have done that because of the accident this morning,
is this peculiar to BrE ?
'...
0
votes
1answer
87 views
How to properly refer to a person who had changed their name in the past tense?
A person changed her name from A to B.
"My 6th grade English teacher was A" sounds right, but when I alter the sentence structure to "B was my 6th grade English teacher" it sounds right. These are ...
1
vote
2answers
82 views
Why modals use present perfect not simple past
I teach ESL for a community college. We just did a unit on "modals of probability" (can't, couldn't, must, should, may, might, could). For the simple present tense, we use this formula "modal + base ...
0
votes
1answer
213 views
Why do we use forms of “have” with past participles to form the present perfect, as in “I have taken”?
We use has, had, or have with a past participle to form the present perfect. This contrasts with our use of a single verb for the present simple. We do not say “I taken the test,” but instead use the ...
2
votes
2answers
275 views
Are these two sentences correct? [closed]
Excuse me, I heard these two sentences from an English teacher. But I do not know what do they mean and even if they are grammatically correct. Would you please help me to find out if they are correct?...
0
votes
2answers
67 views
How can I tell about thing that it is started on the past, and we still doing it until now, and it we will continue do it
I want to shortly tell some one about a task, assigned to us as a team,
that we started doing the task, and yet we are doing it and will continue to it.
as example:
The development started last ...
