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General English Grammar & Vocabulary,... » ESL General English Grammar Questions

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dimsumexpress  +  942109 Wed, 14 Oct 09 05:10 PM
Without your second post asking "how come", I was so sure that you meant "the modal rules". 

The reason I made that comment was already explained. I thought your English level was better than to ask the elementary questions on modals. That's all, nothing derogatory.

 

And for the "do/ did you like the movie" question, this guideline may help you:

Regular / routine/ common / general question without a future or past time reference, use "do".

i.e.

 

Do you like English movies?

Does your boss yell at you frequently?

Do your classmates tease you ?

 

When you refer to / ask about something happened in the recent past, like the movie your brother just saw with his friends few hours ago, or the birthday party of your friend you didn't go last evening, use "did". 

 

i.e.

Did John go to the movie with you guy?

Did everyone have a good time?

How many drinks did you have ?

Did you take a taxi home? 

 

 
dimsumexpress
Joined on Mon, Oct 12 2009
Full Member 290
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CalifJim  +  942170 Wed, 14 Oct 09 06:11 PM
pleasehelp
“Did he send another email to you or Did he sent another email to you?

...  shouldn't it be sent  ... ?”

Only the first verb in a verb phrase may carry the marker of the past, normally a final ed or d.


But for certain irregular verbs that already end in d in the base form (send, lend), we don't add -ed (*sended, *lended), but change the final d to t.  sent and lent therefore carry the marker of the past in the form of the final t.


So you can have did send, but not did sent, because did sent has two markers of the past, and you're only allowed one -- on the first verb.


CJ

________


Other verbs which change final d to t to form the past are spend, bend, rend, and build.


CJ
CalifJim
Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004
California
Veteran Member 22,447
"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche
Related discussions
pleasehelp  +  942311 Wed, 14 Oct 09 08:36 PM
dimsumexpress
“The reason I made that comment was already explained. I thought your English level was better than to ask the elementary questions on modals. That's all, nothing derogatory.”


Hey, it's absolutely no problem at all...but the ironic thing is, I've been speaking English my whole life and this is the first time I've heard of modals...


Thanks for helping!
pleasehelp
Joined on Sun, Sep 20 2009
Regular Member 616
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dimsumexpress  +  942325 Wed, 14 Oct 09 08:51 PM
To be honest, I was among the learners who were taught the word "auxiliary" which are used interchangeably with "modal". If this is not messy enough, some books / references even called them

"helping verbs".

Help....! nah. I just love this language and want to share my 2 cents' worth on the subject with the forum. That's all!  No guarantee my answers are 100% approved by the true experts.
dimsumexpress
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