Vincent Teo  +  807494 Sun, 05 Jul 09 04:02 PM Which is corrrect? (a) If his wife is sick, he will take care / takes care of her. (b) When his wife is sick, he will take / takes care of his wife. Vincent Teo Joined on Sat, Mar 31 2007 Veteran Member 5,660 Marriage, Relationships

	Grammar Geek  +  807504 Sun, 05 Jul 09 04:10 PM Vincent, you remember that when we use the present tense (he takes care of her) it is something that happens all the time, every day, or very often.   The first one is a conditional: if she is sick, he will take care of her. The second one tells you that his wife is sick very often, and when she is sick, he takes care of her.   We don't use the simple present very often.   Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,683 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random! Simple Present, Tenses, Present Tenses, Conditionals, Marriage, Relationships, Simple Tenses

	Yankee  +  807737 Sun, 05 Jul 09 08:08 PM Grammar Geek “We don't use the simple present very often.” I don't understand what you mean, Barb. I use the simple present quite often myself.  I think that statement needs a bit of clarification. Yankee Joined on Sat, Apr 15 2006 Connecticut, USA Veteran Member 6,506 Amy "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain Simple Present, Present Tenses, Simple Tenses

	Grammar Geek  +  807754 Sun, 05 Jul 09 08:24 PM Amy is right, of course.   We DO use simple present, but so many of your sentences "he helps his mother" "he fishes by the river" "he calls for help" "he sees the robber" are going to describe situations that would be better using other tenses, either continuous or past.       Grammar Geek Simple Present, Tenses, Present Tenses, Sentences, Simple Tenses

	Yankee  +  807779 Sun, 05 Jul 09 08:48 PM I thought that was what you getting at, Barb, and I agree with you completely. Vincent Teo, it does seem that when you are focusing on whether a certain preposition or noun can be used, for example, you tend to ignore verb tense. So even if you have used other words appropriately, the verb tense often makes it extremely difficult to say "Yes" when you ask "Can I say...". Yankee Prepositions, Tenses, Nouns