7
votes
Present Perfect vs. Simple Past: Are the solutions supplied by an English website correct?
OK, in questions 19 and 20 the time expressions are different. Present Perfect is the "best" solution for 19, but Simple Past could also be used.
19) I have drunk three cups of coffee today.
For ...
- 92.9k
6
votes
"hadn't thought" vs. "didn't think"
This is a question of 'past simple' (didn't think) vs 'past perfect' (hadn't thought). Past simple is used to indicate that something happened before the present. Past perfect is used to indicate that ...
- 59
6
votes
Past simple vs past perfect; British- vs American English
British Proscription, America the Evil Twin
Comparing American and British English, the 2018 edition of the Oxford Companion to the English Language repeats verbatim the same observation from twenty ...
- 28.2k
5
votes
Accepted
"I was no longer working for X" vs. "I no longer worked for X"
There is a mismatch of tenses, which is bad style. Since working and check are parallel verbs in the sentence, and there is no semantic reason to put them in different tenses, they should be in the ...
- 90.3k
4
votes
Accepted
Why has "sware" become "swore", "bare" "bore", etc?
Tear and bear were in Old English (OE) both strong verbs of “class 4”. The vowel pattern for verbs of this class is "e" - infinitive, ‧ "æ" - past singular, "ǣ" - past ...
- 84.5k
4
votes
Things in English that Are often very confusing for Non-Native Speakers
The present perfect should be used if you wish to communicate that your college experience taught you the value of discipline and hard work. This is likely if, for example, you were being interviewed ...
- 423
3
votes
American dialects: Replacing the past-perfect participle with the simple-past form
This is happening in many places. I live in Southern California (LA metro area), and I hear it all the time. I work in a law office, and I hear licensed attorneys do it occasionally without blinking ...
- 31
3
votes
Accepted
were or had been
Either sentence could be right, depending on the meaning you're trying to convey.
"Were" refers to a past continuous sense, i.e. the "when" is "at the same time that they were told."
"Had been" refers ...
- 101
3
votes
What is the difference between the simple past and the passive voice?
Aside from their names sounding alike, there's no similarity at all between past and passive.
Almost every verb in English has several forms, two tensed and two untensed:
a present tense form (used ...
- 109k
2
votes
Difference between simple past and past perfect in one sentence
In an ordinary past-tense narrative, past-form verbs designate events and states at Reference Time—the time you are talking about—and past-perfect-form verbs designate events and states ...
- 69.1k
2
votes
Accepted
Why use the past simple tense in: "before I died"?
The use of the past tense form 'died' signifies that this is an irrealis (or counter-factual) condition, and therefore implies that he definitely hasn't got a father who cares for him.
- 77.8k
2
votes
Accepted
How relevant is the experiential use of the present perfect to the present point of reference?
The notion of "present relevance" is useful for getting a first grip on the uses of the present perfect construction, but it's hardly definitive. (Presumably everything we say using any verb ...
- 69.1k
2
votes
Accepted
Which is correct? Present perfect or simple past?
Let's replace around the time I found your channel with yesterday, as those phrases are grammatically interchangeable (the "around your time" is just an approximation; it could also be ...
- 209
2
votes
Accepted
Can I use simple present tense instead of past tense for recent events?
No, not really. The phrase "last match" locates the statement in the past, so the past tense "was" should be used.
- 5,376
2
votes
What is the tense in: “…under a green-lined parasol held in a big white hand.”
No hat
No hat. Hair parted, brushed, oiled, under a green-lined parasol held in a big white hand.
In your example, neither of the two constructions closed by a period is a sentence, i.e., an ...
- 28.2k
2
votes
What is the tense in: “…under a green-lined parasol held in a big white hand.”
Here is the text you are focusing on in its context. Your text is in bold.
I saw a high starched collar, white cuffs, a light alpaca jacket, snowy trousers, a clean necktie, and varnished boots. No ...
- 21.6k
2
votes
What is the tense in: “…under a green-lined parasol held in a big white hand.”
"Held" here is not a simple past tense form
No hat. Hair parted, brushed, oiled, under a green-lined parasol held in a big white hand.
As other answers have said, these are sentence ...
- 84.5k
2
votes
What is the tense in: “…under a green-lined parasol held in a big white hand.”
The confusion has to do with the fact that it is not several independent sentences. I don't know the official mumbo-jumbo, but "No hat." is a continuation of the sentence beginning with "I saw ...", ...
- 27.6k
2
votes
Simple Past Tense for duration of time
We use for + duration in different tenses :
Sarah and David talk for two hours daily. (Regular habit).
Sarah and David have talked for two hours. (They have just completed their talking.)
Sarah and ...
2
votes
Accepted
American dialects: Replacing the past-perfect participle with the simple-past form
This is common in parts of Mississippi, Alabama, and Kentucky that I'm aware of. It's not exactly a regional dialect, as it's restricted to small towns, neighborhoods, or even individual families ...
- 244
2
votes
Past simple vs. present simple for the verb "hate"
Both are correct, assuming she still hates action movies.
Your tutor is trying to teach you a rule from 19th century English.
See Google Ngrams.
In the 19th and early 20th century, only
she ...
- 90.3k
2
votes
Accepted
Use "waiting" after "parked"
In the original sentence, there are three actions:
he parked
he waited
he ran off again
Because the same person did all three actions, the verbs should all take the same tense and then the ...
- 59.6k
2
votes
Are there past and future equivalents of the “zero conditional”?
Your past zero conditional is perfectly correct. It's true that most grammar books focus on present zero conditionals, not past. However, there are some books that explain the use of past ones. For ...
- 3,519
2
votes
The present perfect usage
The grammar book whose page you include here is Practical English Usage by Michael Swan. I don't know which edition you are quoting from, but in my (third) edition the explanation is in entry 457 (...
- 33.5k
2
votes
Present perfect and simple past in same sentence "have" and "had"
There is no rule that says you can't have the present tense and past tense in the same sentence.
In any case, your sentence contains no present tense verb. Both verbs are in the past tense. When the ...
- 33.5k
2
votes
Accepted
Has lived vs. lived
Both are correct, they just have different meanings:
- "she has lived in Berlin for 2 years" means she is still living there, and it's been 2 years since she started living there.
- "she lived in ...
- 36
2
votes
Past perfect or present perfect?
They're both correct, but they mean slightly different things.
It seems to me the best answer would be
... because we had a fever.
This says that you had a fever last night, but doesn't say whether ...
- 90.3k
2
votes
Can we use specific time when using past simple with past perfect?
This sentence doesn't sound idiomatic. If you are so keen on expressing the times of your actions, you could say:
I finished my homework at 6 am AND I went to school at 7 am.
as 6 am is obviously ...
- 37k
2
votes
Accepted
"cause" vs "caused"
The first one would be correct.
"An unexpected condition caused an error".
You could use the other form however that one would be to say that it will or it is causing the error. It might be ...
- 456
2
votes
Why is past simple being used in these sentences instead of past perfect?
I helped James move house this week and he sent me a big bunch of flowers to say 'thank you'.
Look at the sequence of events in Q1.
1st: I helped John move house this week.
2nd: John sent me flowers ...
- 92.9k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible