Help with tenses...

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Ant_222

#227438 Sun, 21 May 06 12:52 PM

Hi all!

I am translating a text adventure, and I've met a problem

>eat tablet
No tablets have left in the pack.

What should it be:
1. No tablets have left in the pack
2. No tablets left in the pack
3. No tablets are left in the pack

Which variants are correct, and what are other ways to say that?

Numbers 2 and 3 are probably ok, while number one is said to be wrong. Why?

Thanks in advance.

Ant_222

Joined on Sun, May 21 2006

Podolsk, Russia

Contributing Member (1,569)

Tenses, Numbers

Marius Hancu

#227454 Sun, 21 May 06 01:44 PM

1. No tablets have left in the pack. The only grammatically correct combination here would be
No tablets have left the pack.
but this is perhaps too active for lifeless objects such as tablets, but some would use it.

2. No tablets left in the pack.
this is a compacted (too compact except for very short informal replies) version of 3., which is the preferred version, IMO.

Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Veteran Member (11,673)

Tenses

Ant_222

#227458 Sun, 21 May 06 01:57 PM

Thank you.

«No tablets have left the pack» is very fun, but not correct even if to consider the tablets living forms: «No tablets have left the pack» = «They are all in there»...

Ant_222

Tenses

CalifJim

#227648 Mon, 22 May 06 02:12 AM

No tablets are left in the pack.
There are no tablets in the pack.
There are no more tablets in the pack.
There are no tablets left in the pack.
There are no more tablets left in the pack.
The pack contains no tablets.
The pack contains no more tablets.
The pack is empty.
______________

No tablets have left the pack is not idiomatic, and it means the reverse of the expressions I wrote above. It means: All the tablets are still in the pack.

CJ