Do you know / Did you know

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Anonymous  #123909  Thu, 04 Aug 05 05:16 PM

E.g: Do you know Tom got an award?

E.g.: Did you know Tom got an award?

Which one do you think is acceptable?

Any difference?

  
Clive  #123982  Thu, 04 Aug 05 09:23 PM

Hi,

Do you know Tom got an award?

No, thank you for telling me, that's great! The focus is on 'now'.

Did you know Tom got an award?

No, I didn't know, until his wife told me yesterday. The question is about the past.

That's the basic difference. A more  'advanced' difference is that in some situations we can use past tense in a question to 'distance' ourselves from the present, in order to increase the level of politeness. For example, a waiter talking to a customer:

Did you want to order now? is a little less forceful than Do you want to order now?

Best wishes, Clive

 

  
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