In Present tenses^x, Numbers^x

Paco: What you are (or the book is) saying is just about epistemic modals. Some root modals like 'will' (futurity) or 'can' (ability) have tense finiteness. So your saying cannot be generalized for all modals. JTT: These aren't separate modals. They are modals with varying meanings. It is...

Jack: I have a little problem here. I don't know if I should use past tense or past perfect for asking questions. JTT: I think your confusion may rest with waht you actually see. You should get used to calling them past tense FORM or past perfect FORM, Jack, because sometimes it's just the FORM...

Playing to Win by Margaret A. Whitney 1 My daughter is an athlete. Nowadays, this statement won’t strike many parents as unusual, but it does me. Until her freshman year in high school, Ann was only marginally interested in sport of any kind. When she played, she didn’t swing hard, often...

For my home grammar assignment I am to "describe the form of the verb phrases in the following sentences (:finiteness, tense, modality, aspect, voice): 1. The house had been painted a bright red before it was sold. 2. Pigeons will be nesting on the statue's head. 3. It is good to have seen them...

1a. That's not the man I married, these days he will sit in front of the telly for hours watching football. 1b. At the beginning of our relationship, he would write some romantic letters for me, he would send me flowers every day. 3a. I can swim the distance of 400m in 90 seconds! 3b. As a...

#2: On Wednesday, I tell CJ what I said on Tuesday. The possibility started yesterday. It therefore started in the past. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Two major problems with your theory, Mr P. 1. "The possibility started yesterday. It therefore started in the past." And what it started with was a...

If you don't like to use another explanation, then I try to explain it and you may correct it for me. The sentence of: "I like him more than she gives the impression of I like him more than she likes him." means: She expressed an idea that I like him more than she likes him. But in fact I like...

It is simple aspect. There are three aspects-- simple, perfect, and continuous. However, it is NOT present tense, since it is infinitive (a form of nonfinite verb). Normally we do not assign voice, mood, aspect, tense(!), person, number, etc. to nonfinite verbs. 'You will find' is simple future.

Hello Sextus, 1) I think that's fine. (I get the impression from what you've written that Sextus E. used the simile without fully working out the implications. Is that indeed your conclusion?) 2) It's true that some native speakers would use the present here. Let me try out the possibilities...

First, let me make a few observations. 1. All wishes are counterfactual. It makes no sense to wish for what you already have. The Queen of England does not say, "I wish I were the Queen of England". If I am six feet tall, I do not say, "I wish I were six feet tall". So every wish is a wish...