Questions tagged [sequence-of-tenses]
for questions about the agreement between the tenses of verbs in related clauses or sentences.
206
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How can the preterite in the second clause place its event BEFORE that of the past perfect’s event in the first clause?
Here the chronology seems inverted as regards to the proper use of the past
perfect and the preterite to order two different events that both occurred
in the past:
He had not been[past perfect] happy ...
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Sequence of tenses in dialogue: why is "No, can't say I had" used in response to "Perhaps you didn't notice?"?
From the movie "No Time to Die":
Nomi: The world's moved on since you retired, Commander Bond. Perhaps you didn't notice?
Bond: No, can't say I had."
Why did Bond use "had" ...
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0
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Are the following sentences possible to use (and also grammatically correct) and what meaning do they have? [duplicate]
I.
I thought he was swimming - I thought he swam for a while but found out it was a lie
I thought he is swimming - I thought he was swimming now, but he's not.
I thought he swam - I thought he once ...
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Meaning of the sentence "The thieves had run away when the police arrived."
This is from the Quirk's CGEL section 4.24 - The past perfective:
Adverbials of time position, when used with the past perfective, can
identify either T2 or T3. Placed initially, they often identify ...
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1
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Got promoted which is verb here? [closed]
They got promoted.
Which word is a verb here, between got & promoted, and why?
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Is it idiomatic to shift from present progressive to present simple within single sentence? [duplicate]
One of my friends while writing a passage wrote the following sentence that contained both present progressive and present simple tense within a single sentence:
Road accidents are happening because ...
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5
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I am having trouble coördinating two clauses in the past by using the past perfect in one or both of them
I am confused about using had, talking about walking into a building in the past tense:
She had been humming when she had walked into the building.
She had been humming when she walked into the ...
user465785
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2
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Simple Past or Past Perfect - Sequence of Tenses
Could someone help me understand which tense (Simple Past or Past Perfect) would be more appropriate in the following examples, and why?
I knew I asked the right person.
I knew I had asked the right ...
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2
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142
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Would rather they WENT by bus than WALK
I would rather you washed it yourself than see your mom do it for you.
I would rather you washed the dishes than watched TV.
The mom would rather the kids went by bus than walk.
I can understand, ...
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talking about general things - choice of tense to "set the scene"
This is a question that I've been struggling with for quite a long time. I have asked a similar question in the ELL forum already but I didn't get an answer there and it is difficult to find ...
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Backshifting in reported speech - thought/knew/promised
This is another question on backshifting.
I looked at other such questions at ELU & ELL, it appears that the general consensus is something like 'if the reported situation still hasn't changed, it'...
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Past simple and pluperfect with “before”
Which of the following is correct?
“I had learned to sing before I learned to dance.”
“I learned to sing before I had learned to dance.”
“I learned to sing before I learned to dance.”
I think only ...
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Why does the backshifting of tenses rule not apply here? [duplicate]
Why does the backshifting of tenses rule not apply to this sentence?:
"I forgot what a liar he is."
Because the verb "forgot" in the main clause is past tense, shouldn't the verb ...
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1
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What mood is "if I were" in?
Wikipedia says about English subjunctive mood:
In Modern English, the subjunctive is realised as a finite but tenseless clause where the main verb occurs in the bare form. Since the bare form is also ...
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Could you please help and explain to me how to correct the seemingly incorrect passive voice sentence pattern?
Could you please help and explain to me how to correct the seemingly incorrect passive voice sentence pattern?
I would prefer it if we could be sat next to a window.
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2
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Past tense sentence containing a habitual action in present tense
I have found a few questions on the site regarding habitual action and tenses, but nothing addresses my specific query. I want to know whether it is acceptable to use the present tense to describe a ...
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Why are the "sequence of tenses" rules not observed in some special cases? [closed]
An excerpt from an article on Yahoo: "The disappearances of two top Taliban figures from public view have prompted a spokesperson to deny that one of them had died, multiple outlets reported"...
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There is this sentence in the book "Fight Club" and I don't quite understand the verbs that are used, can you help me?
I'm reading a book called Fight Club and there is this sentence that got me confused:
Marla had started going to support groups after she found the first lump.
Now, past perfect is used in this ...
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Present Perfect in main clause
I cannot determine whether both of these instances are appropriate uses of present perfect.
Scenario: We just pull up to a restaurant and notice we are the first/last ones there, and someone utters:
&...
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"I had fallen asleep" vs "I fell asleep" [duplicate]
Which sentence below is grammatically correct?
I didn't answer your questions because I had fallen asleep early last night.
I didn't answer your questions because I fell asleep early last night.
I'...
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0
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Tenses in dependent clauses with conditionals
From wikipedia:
Apart from the special cases referred to in the sections above, many
other dependent clauses use a tense that might not logically be
expected – in particular the present tense is used ...
0
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1
answer
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What is a complex/difficult example of English tenses? [closed]
I'm a native English speaker, and while learning other languages, I've learned that English has more complex tenses than other languages. I don't know what all of the English tenses are, but the most ...
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Verb tense consistency in a sentence [closed]
I learned that we do not shift tenses between sentences unless there is a time change that must be shown. I have two examples below that I'm not sure whether they're grammatically correct or not.
I ...
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Can you use “if past, then past”?
Is it possible to use the past simple in the result-clause of the 2nd conditional?
Is it possible to say:
If I had enough money, I bought a car.
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Does "could" always mean something less likely than "can", even in backshifted subordinate clauses?
Does the could version always show more uncertainty/doubt than the can version in each of ⑴, ⑵, and ⑶?
You can/could get very nasty skin diseases from bathing in dirty water.
You can/could get into ...
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What verb construction would you use?
Imagine you go down to the station at noon to meet your friend Mike there. You sit there and wait and wait for him to show up. Two hours later your
friend finally arrives and says to you:
Sorry I'm ...
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illogical sequence of tenses
Hello everyone:
I was watching a documentary about Scientology when I heard the following sentence, which, I believe, contains an illogical shift in tense.
“We have been hoping that someone would have ...
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1
answer
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Past tense and present tense in a same sentense. Tense consistent or logically correct?
I am trying to tell a thing that happened in the past. But that thing has a fact that is still true in the present. Could you tell me which one of the following is true?
I had a lesson with a tutor ...
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2
answers
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Consecutio modorum: Do “that” clauses follow an irreal subjunctive in the parent clause?
Does English have a “sequence of moods” rule? Should the blanks be filled in by was or were?
If we knew that it ___ raining, we would also know that the
street ___ wet.
That is, are the irreal ...
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2
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Can “was not ᴠᴇʀʙing” and “will not ᴠᴇʀʙ” ever be exact equivalents in reported speech? [closed]
Do English speakers understand this sentence:
I told him I wasn’t playing soccer anymore.
Exactly as they would this sentence:
I told him I will not play soccer anymore.
If so, why would they ...
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2
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What does the sentence "People felt that the cyclist was performing at a surprisingly high level." become in the passive? [closed]
This is a (one more!) question I have had to ask myself when dealing with the passive structure "someone is said to do/be doing/have done something"... which definitely is a tricky structure ...
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First Conditional sentence with would
Grammatically, when we construct a first conditional sentence, the if-clause is followed by a result clause with a "will" in it. However, in many formal texts written by native English ...
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1
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221
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Sequence of Moods (Subjunctive)
I asked a question a while ago
("If I asked, would she say it were/was time?" Past Vs. Subjunctive) about “sequence of moods” whose top answer read,
Fowler says the past simple is used in ...
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2
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The sequence of uses tenses in complex or compound Sentence
The head of the audit is so obtuse that he had no inkling that funds were being ingenuously diverted.
My first question is, are there any grammatical mistakes in the sentence above, except spelling ...
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3
answers
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Will and would modal verbs [closed]
Which of the following sentences is correct? If both are correct, what is
the difference in meaning between these two sentences?
A majority of voters approved changes to Russia’s Constitution that ...
0
votes
1
answer
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Tense Inconsistency (Past Simple and Present Perfect) or wrong Sequence of Tenses (Present tense follows Past tense)?
In the following sentence, the Present Perfect in the second clause sounds a little off to me, yet I cannot put my finger on WHY that is.
During this time (Subord. Clause 1), I was able to gain/ I ...
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0
answers
361
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Modal Verbs and Sequence of Tenses
Should the clause “I would/should think” be followed by another also in the past, according to the rules of tense sequence?
I should think he was here [I think he is here now].
I should think the ...
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1
answer
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It was I or it is I (or both since it is just a matter of perspectives)
This confusion has been haunting me since I was fifteen. Please consider the following:
A. It was I who killed your mom.
B. It is I who killed your mom.
Question: As far as I know, we can apply two ...
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1
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Switching from have been to current tense in a sentence
While working on a project with a friend, we stumbled upon a grammatical problem.
These use cases have been modeled and help convey the game’s primary gameplay.
I'm uncertain whether or not it's ...
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Problems on the sequence of tenses
I feel really confused with the sequence of tenses sometimes. I am trying to explain where my problem is. Suppose, I have three different sentences which I want to express in two sentences.
1) I ...
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Future perfect/simple future/present perfect
Please consider the following:
They will report to me what they will have known/will know/have known. Which one is right if the context is they will report to me after they know it
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Why is "were" used in the highlighted relative clause? [closed]
Thank you for taking interest in this question. I have attached below the context of the clause in question to help your understanding.
A full version of the question would be: Why were, instead of ...
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1
answer
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Cloze Passage - Grammar (Sequence of Tenses)
There is this sentence in my Grammar Cloze passage:
Though I started off reasonably well, soon I felt my legs ___________(ache) badly.
Should I answer "ache" or "aching"? The correct answer is "...
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"How did your life change if you have as much money as Bill Gates?" Is this sentence correct?
I am a teacher of English in Japan. I happened to see a weird sentence from a notebook of my student.
It says,
"How did your life change if you have as much money as Bill Gates?"
And my fellow ...
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Wanted to make sure you “had” or “have” what you need to make a start [closed]
Would you be able to explain which one is grammatically correct, or whether both can be grammatically correct depending on the context?
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Conditional in the past: using present or preterit?
A person is talking using past tense, because he is talking about events that happened in the past. Which one is correct?
They might come after me if they found out that Kudo Shinichi was still alive ...
1
vote
2
answers
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“Thanksgiving was in four days”: something sounds funny!
Can you tell me if this sentence is correct? Here it is, in context (bold emphasis added):
...mother and sister to let them know she was deploying. Thanksgiving was in four days, and Peyton had a ...
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A specific example about past tense in subordinate clause
I've read several posts about "main clause past tense, can I use simple present tense in the subordinate clause?" and I think I get the basic idea.
General truth can use present.
He didn't know ...
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2
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Was or is or both? A line from the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
"He was as fresh as is the month of May".
The above is the 94th line from 'The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue'.
Questions:
Why are 'was' and 'is' in the same line/sentence?
If it is taken as ...
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How did “to wish that” come to hate the present tense in the subordinate clauses it governs, and why is it alone in this?
Inspired by this earlier
question, I've realized
that we have no canonical question addressing the stranglely one-of-a-kind special
grammatical rules demanded by the verb wish of its subordinate ...
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