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Tenses in since-clauses

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

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Latest post Tue, Aug 8 2006 4:01 PM by CalifJim. 6 replies.
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Teo  +  59390 Sun, 05 Dec 04 04:25 AM
1. He has been a boss ever since I have known him.
2. He has been a boss ever since I knew him.
Someone syas, "'Ever since I have known him' implies that he is still a boss; 'ever since I knew him' would imply that he is no longer a boss." Is that analysis correct?
Thank you very much for your reply.
Teo
Joined on Tue, Sep 28 2004
Taiwan
Contributing Member 1,631
Thank you very much for your reply.
CalifJim  +  59395 Sun, 05 Dec 04 04:36 AM
Teo,
No, that analysis is not correct.
Only the first sentence makes sense.

Something that would come closer to implying that he was no longer a boss might be:

He used to be a boss when I knew him.

But even that doesn't mean he is definitely not a boss now.

Geeked [8-|]
CalifJim
Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004
California
Veteran Member 22,463
"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche
Related discussions
Teo  +  253626 Tue, 08 Aug 06 10:19 AM

1. He has been a boss ever since I have known him.
2. He has been a boss ever since I knew him.
3. He has been a boss ever since I have met him.
4. He has been a boss ever since I met him.

1 and 4 are correct. 2 and 3 are incorrect. Am I right?
Teo
Maple  +  253661 Tue, 08 Aug 06 01:07 PM

On the contrary, I like 2 & 4 for the reason that I'd like to take "since clause" as "since the time + when clause", and "since the time when" always introduces clauses whose verbs are in their past tenses.
Maple
Joined on Tue, Jul 11 2006
An ESL student in China
Contributing Member 1,110
, , ,
CalifJim  +  253694 Tue, 08 Aug 06 03:39 PM
1 and 4 are correct. 2 and 3 are incorrect. Am I right?

I would say so, yes.

know is a stative verb, so ever since is going to mean during the entire time from when (I came to know him) until now.
meet is not a stative verb, so ever since is going to mean from the time when (I met him) until now.

It is the difference between the verb types that influences the choice of tense after ever since (or just since).

CJ
CalifJim
, , ,
Maple, 3 yr 110 days ago

Oh, I know now

the (2) should be:

He has been a boss ever since I got to know him.

CalifJim  +  253703 Tue, 08 Aug 06 04:01 PM
since I got to know him is also a good way to say it, yes.

CJ
CalifJim
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