In an excellent advanced grammar book, Exploring Grammar in Context by Carter & Hughes & McCarthy, this exercise was given on the present perfect. (page 7, exercise 4, item c) Choose between the present perfect and past simple tneses for

The British, I'm told, find that combinations like "already did" create at least a minor disturbance in their brain waves! "Already have!" I have always been taught " already " goes with the perfect rather than

" I told him what I did". There is nothing wrong with this sentence. If we discuss events in the distance past, then past perfect no doubt is correct based on absolute grammar rules. I saw my friend John in the grocery store whom I

Hi, When the repair person (A) had completed her work (B) was fixing the PCs in our office, she (C) put away her tools and (D) wrote out a bill for the supervisor. The answer key says (B) is incorrect but doesn't tell me what to change, so I

From what I remember from my grammar classes years ago, the simple past is used for time specific events and the present perfect tense is used to refer to non-time specific events/ general experiences. As such, is it incorrect to state the

Hi, YSchneider . I am not a native speaker and this is indeed a tough grammar point for non-native speakers. Here is an extract from CGEL*: Did you lock the front door? in a domestic situation where it is known that the front door is locked at

Hi, How would you explain the difference in structure and usage between these tenses to a low-level student? Past　simple and past continuous Teach structure with examples, explaining how the tense is formed with the root of the verb. Show them the

Though there's nothing much she can do to help, talking to her does help make me feel better. She has been busy organizing a teambuilding event for her team. A few weeks ago, she went to China to check out a hotel. It was pretty cheesy, she

Hello, everyone: He told me somebody had phoned when I was / had been out. They were quarreling about the property their father had left them when he died/ had died . For 40 years he had worked harder than he needed/ had needed to.

1.     A group IS ...  (Not important who is in the group). A group is a singular, countable noun. 3.    Both wrong.     She went home half an hour ago. Given, finished time requires simple past UNLESS it relates to another action in the past.