ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: have got

Yoong Liat — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:31:42 GMT

Thanks, Marius.

You understand what I was asking and have given me the correct method.

Best wishes

Re: have got

Skrej — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:52:03 GMT

Hahah, you two make me laugh with these posts.

Yoong, all your emoticons and hyper-links work fine for me. I can click on your links and it brings up the post, just like it's supposed to.

About contractions: It depends upon what kind of contraction. Personal pronoun contractions can be used with everything except the simple present, simple past, and past continuous, including most present forms, and all the future forms. They won't work with the simple past, but they can work with the past perfect, and past perfect continuous. However, they can be a bit ambiguous, so you need to write your sentences so they're clear, or write them out to avoid any confusing cases. Also, contractions are viewed as informal, so be aware of the situation you're writing for, when deciding whether or not to use them.

I'd studied acting before moving to New York. (past. perf.)

You weren't studying? (past cont. but -it's not a personal pronoun contraction.)

You'd been studying when she called. (past. perf. cont.)

I'll do it in a minute( simple future)
I'll have finished it by the time you get home. (future perf.)

However:

He's tired. (Unclear- Is it "He is tired" (simple present), or "He has tired" (pres. perf.)

Re: have got

Marius Hancu — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:39:40 GMT

BTW, that link was obtained by using the Search (top right box), with the following arguments:

user:califjim have got have

then pasting the resulting search link into my editor and surrounding it with

url

and

/url

in brackets []

With the Yahoo editor (which I can't use), things may be easier.

Re: have got

New2grammar — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:57:13 GMT

AHA... Now it makes sense. I don't know whether it's right or not. I think I was told contractions only work for the present tense but I could be wrong. Let's wait for a native.

Re: have got

Yoong Liat — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:55:52 GMT

New2grammar

Sorry that I didn't make it clear.
Would you say: She IS pretty when I first met her? Or she WAS ...

She was pretty when I first met her. I married her. Now she is old and no longer pretty.

Re: have got

Yoong Liat — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:53:59 GMT

New2grammar
HAHAH.. yes yes..your emoticon is working and so does your links. I wish I could help but I just don't see any issues with your so called problems.

Off topic:
The inconsistency of the tenses kind of annoys me: It's a brand-new one when I bought it.

I think in speaking, it is OK to use "It's". Correct me If I'm wrong.

But written in full, it should be "It was ... "

Re: have got

New2grammar — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:51:01 GMT

Sorry that I didn't make it clear.
Would you say: She IS pretty when I first met her? Or she WAS ...

Re: have got

Yoong Liat — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:48:49 GMT

New2grammar
HAHAH.. yes yes..your emoticon is working and so does your links. I wish I could help but I just don't see any issues with your so called problems.

Off topic:
The inconsistency of the tenses kind of annoys me: It's a brand-new one when I bought it.

Some people cannot afford new computers, so they buy used ones.

I had the money to buy a new computer, so I bought a new one.

Now I have not enough money to buy a brand-new one.

Re: have got

New2grammar — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:42:28 GMT

HAHAH.. yes yes..your emoticon is working and so does your links. I wish I could help but I just don't see any issues with your so called problems.

Off topic:
The inconsistency of the tenses kind of annoys me: It's a brand-new one when I bought it.

Re: have got

Yoong Liat — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:36:54 GMT

My mouse is from Microsoft and my computer is hardly two months old. It's not second-hand. It's a brand-new one when I bought it.

I remember Western American asking the same question and we told what to do, but I tried but the method could not work. Can you see that I'm crying?

Re: have got

New2grammar — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:20:14 GMT

She needs a new mouse.

Re: have got

Yoong Liat — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:17:18 GMT

Hi New2grammar

Please read my edited post above yours.

Re: have got

New2grammar — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:14:35 GMT

What do you mean by incorrect method??? I just point the cursor and click as usual. Nothing special. Is your mouse working?

Re: have got

Yoong Liat — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:12:47 GMT

Hi New2grammar

How did you manage to open it when I didn't use the correct method? What did you do? How do you go about it?

Once I wrote a link and Amy had to do something to it so that it could be opened with a click.

Re: have got

New2grammar — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:00:13 GMT

Yoong Liat
http://www.englishforums.com/English/Gotta/jmmn/post.htm (Click mine. You cannot open the link.)

I just opened it on your post.