Guest  +  9550 Wed, 01 Oct 03 12:39 AM Can you give me an example of broken as a present tense? Guest Tenses, Present Tenses

	whl626  +  9557 Wed, 01 Oct 03 06:58 AM " Broken " is past participle of break. I have never come across that it can be used as present tense. whl626 Joined on Sun, Aug 24 2003 Regular Member 882 Learn English every day Tenses, Present Tenses

	maj  +  9560 Wed, 01 Oct 03 08:23 AM You can use broken to describe a marriage that has ended in divorce. (Sometimes it implies this is sad or a bad thing) e.g. He spoke for the first time about the traumas of a broken marriage. e.g. Children from broken homes are more likely to leave home before the age of 18. maj Joined on Mon, Mar 31 2003 Senior Member 4,756 Marriage

	Raul  +  9618 Wed, 01 Oct 03 07:32 PM In this case, "broken" is an adjective which has several meanings. For example: a broken pot (broken = fractured; smashed) a broken set of books (broken = incomplete, fragmentary) broken sunshine (broken = intermittent, discontinuous) a broken radio (broken = not functioning) ... and so on. This is the only case "broken" can be *used* in the present tense. Raul Joined on Mon, Sep 1 2003 Lima - Peru Full Member 221 "I touch the future: I teach" Tenses, Present Tenses

	blndestngr  +  9928 Sun, 05 Oct 03 03:20 AM what about: "my relationship is tense at the moment, my heart is broken since my spouse cheated on me" blndestngr Joined on Sun, Oct 5 2003 New Member 05 Tenses

	Raul  +  10040 Mon, 06 Oct 03 11:41 PM It's just the same thing: broken is used as an adjective. I didn't use any example of this kind because everybody knows what a broken heart feels like. Raul

	moijelesuis  +  10243 Wed, 08 Oct 03 06:07 PM and adjective or not, it is still a reductive past participle. the broken pot is on the shelf - also means, the pot that has been broken (in the past) is on the shelf (now, presently) moijelesuis Joined on Sat, Aug 16 2003 usa/canada Full Member 116