By Past tenses, Plurals

As long as we're tutoring others in the language, let's make sure to be extra careful about spelling as well. Pealed refers to the sound a bell made (past tense). To peal is to ring -- as in "It is pleasant to hear the bells peal in the afternoon." The proper spelling for the word describing the...

Taka wrote: (a) The price and commitment of caring for one's aged parents was escalating steadily because of a shortage of affordable nursing homes and a lack of home-care services. (b) The price and the commitment of caring for one's aged parents were escalating steadily because of a shortage...

present tense singular: The book costs $10. present tense plural: The books cost $10 each. Past tense singular: Last week, that same book only cost $5. Past tense plural: Last week, those same books only cost $5 each. This is confusing because all of the past tense forms look just like the...

I should have thought carefully before posting that message, but does plural sentense ur using 'any' solve the issue I see as the problem?

{## ..... ## marks off new responses} JTT: It's not at all unnatural or unreasonable to expect that historical past tense forms should fill this semantic role to describe a general condition in the past. MrP: If it looks like a past tense, acts like a past tense, and has the 'semantic role'...

1. Use of present perfect tense and simple past tense Speakers of American English generally use the present perfect tense (have/has + past participle) far less than speakers of British English. In spoken American English it is very common to use the simple past tense as an alternative in...

1) Derivation often changes the word's lexical category, but not always: great (adjective) => great+ly => greatly (adverb) dog (noun) => dog + house => doghouse (noun) 2) Inflection doesn't change the word's lexical category. It adds meaning: number, person, tense: Number: dog (singular noun)...

Mr P wrote: The distinction is between functions, not forms. You want to write a sentence that expresses doubt, for example, or contingency. You decide to use the subjunctive mood. You look up the subjunctive, and find the correct form. As it happens, that form is sometimes the same as the...

Say the right words in the right order. Make subjects and verbs agree in number. Use the correct case for all pronouns. Add "ed" to form the past tense. Add "s" to form plurals. Add "'s" to form possessives. Invert subject and verb in a question. Don't use a countable singular noun without an...

Hello MM88 Why the correct form is "If I were you\if I were it" and not "was"? Doesn't the verb "to be" refer here to I\it? Or as a result of substituting "you", it must become plural? What about it? As MrP and JTT already gave good answers I have not much to add. I'd just like to show you...