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Daxiaoaixad
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206456
Wed, 15 Mar 06 04:22 PM
Hi there,
I have following sentences:
* Do you enjoy this exercise?
* What do you do this evening?
* I look forward to receiving your reply?
* When do you come back from your vacation?
My question is whether they are correct? And why?
Joined on
Wed, Feb 22 2006
Germany, Saarbruecken
Junior Member
53
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Philip
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206462
Wed, 15 Mar 06 04:37 PM
 Daxiaoaixad wrote: | Hi there,
I have following sentences:
* Do you enjoy this exercise normally? OR: Are you enjoying this exercise (now)?
* What do you normally do in the evening? OR: What are you doing this evening (now, or very soon)?
* I look forward to receiving your reply? OR: I am looking forward to your reply. (The first is more common, probably to express the "regularity" implied.)
* When do you come back from your vacation?OR: When are you coming back from vacation?
My question is whether they are correct? And why?
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The basic difference is one of time. Simple present to express actions that occur with some regularity. Progressive to express current action. There obviously is some overlap, but I hope this helps.
Happy Ides of March!
Joined on
Thu, Jun 23 2005
Veteran Member
8,727
At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen
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pieanne
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206467
Wed, 15 Mar 06 04:45 PM
You also use the present continuous for planned actions in a more or less near future, like your "what are you doing this evening?"
Joined on
Thu, Jan 20 2005
South of France ...But I'm Belgian!
Veteran Member
7,517
I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...
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Goodman
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206501
Wed, 15 Mar 06 06:57 PM
| Daxiaoaixad wrote: | Hi there,
I have following sentences:
* Do you enjoy this exercise?
* What do you do this evening?
* I look forward to receiving your reply?
* When do you come back from your vacation?
My question is whether they are correct? And why?
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Hi Dax,
As the others already pointed out, the time reference dictates how the sentenece should be contructed. That said, I took the liberty to revised your questions.
* Do you enjoy this exercise? It makes more sense to use "did". If the question is "do you enjoy exercicing?" then it's fine. But the way it's formed, is not quiet correct because of the tense. THe pperson has to finish the excercise before he could answer your question, right? If so should it be past tense?
* What do you do this evening? The context implies future. So to improve the sentence, I'd say "what are you doing this evening?".
* I look forward to receiving your reply? Acceptable, but technically, it should be " I am looking forward to receiving your reply". Again, it implies future.
* When do you come back from your vacation? Again, this sentence carries a notion of the future. I'd change it to " when are you coming back" or "when will you be coming back" from vacation?
Joined on
Mon, Nov 7 2005
Senior Member
3,816
The name says it all!
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Daxiaoaixad
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206534
Wed, 15 Mar 06 10:24 PM
Hi Goodman,
I got your answer. So the time is very important. If it indicates the
furture, one should use present progressive instead of present simple.
But what about the sentence:
The plan leaves for india tomorrow.
?
| Goodman wrote: | |
Hi Dax,
As the others already pointed out, the time reference dictates how
the sentenece should be contructed. That said, I took the liberty to
revised your questions.
* Do you enjoy this exercise? It makes more sense to use "did".
If the question is "do you enjoy exercicing?" then it's fine. But the
way it's formed, is not quiet correct because of the tense. THe pperson
has to finish the excercise before he could answer your question,
right? If so should it be past tense?
* What do you do this evening? The context implies future. So to improve the sentence, I'd say "what are you doing this evening?".
* I look forward to receiving your reply? Acceptable, but technically, it should be " I am looking forward to receiving your reply". Again, it implies future.
* When do you come back from your vacation? Again, this sentence carries a notion of the future. I'd change it to " when are you coming back" or "when will you be coming back" from vacation?
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Goodman
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206537
Wed, 15 Mar 06 10:46 PM
Hi Dax,
I just want to clarify something about present progressive. If we are engaged in a conversation and you and I are having a cup of tea, then "are having" refers to now.
If I ask you " what are you doing this weekend?", I am asking you "do you have any plan this weekend" or "what will you be doing this weekend". So present progressive has a unquie property which can be used at the present and a defined future time.
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pieanne
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206668
Thu, 16 Mar 06 09:25 AM
I'll just add that when the present continuous is used to refer to the future, the time when the action is taking place is always stated.
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Diamondrg
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206726
Thu, 16 Mar 06 12:54 PM
| Goodman wrote: | |
* Do you enjoy this exercise? It makes more sense to use "did". If the question is "do you enjoy exercicing?" then it's fine. But the way it's formed, is not quiet correct because of the tense. THe pperson has to finish the excercise before he could answer your question, right? If so should it be past tense?
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Hi, Goodman,
Does he/she reall have to finish the exercise before answering? Doesn't "simple present" indicate that he/she does it regulary? Why then does he/she have to wait for the exercise to finish?
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Fri, Dec 2 2005
Contributing Member
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pieanne
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206737
Thu, 16 Mar 06 02:21 PM
I see Goodman is offline...
The "have to" here is synonym with "must", and you don't use it in the continuous form in that meaning. (Perhaps someone will come up with exceptions, though...)
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