By Present tenses, Conversations

hi there, I have a question about the following dialogues. Why did Todd use 'was wondering' instead of present tense because he used simple present 'do' in the rest of his conversation? ............... Todd: Oh, really. What room number are you? Phil: I'm 443. Todd: Ah, OK. Actually, I'm...

is, am, are, was, were, etc. Perhaps start with usage (singular, plural, present tense, past tense) Then give examples. Then have the students practice with conversations that use the forms.

"by the time" plus a present tense (like "assemble") requires "will". Generally, only "will" accompanies the main verb if the verb is a static verb (like "have"), and "will have" accompanies the past particple of the main verb if the verb is dynamic. By the time you assemble the motorcycle...

Waïti wrote:I would say that the question the salesman asks goes to knowing whether it is a HABIT that Joey has to just nod his head while his friends are having a conversation. So he implies something like 'do you USUALLY do such a thing ?' when he asks his question. Hence the simple...

I would say that the question the salesman asks goes to knowing whether it is a HABIT that Joey has to just nod his head while his friends are having a conversation. So he implies something like 'do you USUALLY do such a thing ?' when he asks his question. Hence the simple present...

I have a question about the dialogue in one of Friends' episodes; the salesman asks Joey, Salesman: "Do your friends ever have a conversation and you just nod along even though you're not really sure what they're talking about?" My question is why the salesman uses Present Tense instead of...

Hello Davkett I'm envisaging a conversation like this: "Do you have any tissues?" "There should be some in the glove compartment." "Are they clean?" "Of course they're clean!" "Are you sure?" "Well, no, I'm not 'sure'. But if they weren't¹ clean, they'd be in that bijou little garbage...

It means: the possibility that the vacation is filled with amazing and wonderful experiences is greater than the possibility that it is filled with trials and tribulations. I believe the writer is trying to say, on balance, the vacation is really more wonderful than horrible. Because of the...

I'd say 'brothers-in-law' but I'm sure there are arguments to support both. When people say sentences like "I seen that", it must really confuse non-native speakers. I had a friend from Puerto Rico who lived in England for a while, and he learned a lot from listening to our lazy,...

Davkett wrote:Yes, it's natural. But such telling, at least in conversation, is also commonly heard in the present tense--"There are these two characters. One is a man, and the other is a talking dog, and they're on this road trip where they meet up with ..." Right! But in formal writing...