Search results for 'tag:Adverbs tag:Simple past' matching tags 'Adverbs' and 'Simple past'

Re: Filipinisms/Filipinoisms? Ring a bell?

Mister Micawber — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:07:37 GMT

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I would consider this exercise damagingly prescriptive; most are neither uniquely Filipino nor wrong. However (and my comments refer to AmE/BrE):

1. Free subscription of... (Free subscription toâ¦) - prepo issue-- AmE/BrE uses the collocation subscribe to.
2. Can I speak withâ¦? (May I speak withâ¦) - To sound more polite/ask permission?-- Both OK. 'Can' is more casual but just as common.
3. Come again? (I'm sorry I didn't get quite get that / Excuse me? / I'm sorry would you please say that again?) - English trainers discourage agents to use this because they say that it could mean 'cum again')-- The English trainers are nuts. Come again is common and casual. Your examples in parentheses are overly formal for most situations.
4. It's for free! (It's free. / It's free of charge. / We're sending it to you for free.) - Filipinos have been used to saying 'It's for free'. How do I say that it should be avoided? What makes it wrong?-- Nothing makes it wrong; it's fine.
5. Hold your line/For awhileâ¦ (Would you mind if I put you on hold for a second? / Please hold) - hold your line is absurd. any comment? what about for awhile?-- I agree that 'Hold your line' is not natural in AmE/BrE. 'Please hold' or 'Could you hold, please' is the usual.
6. Open/ close the light/computer (Turn on/off the light/TV/computer) - how do I explain this? it sounds like opening/closing the tv for repair.- This seems to be a direct translation from Spanish? Tagalog? At least, it is the same error that Japanese make.
7. Do you mind waiting? Yes, I'll wait. (No, not at all. / No, I don't mind at all.) - YES is the issue. wrong response. any other feedback?-- 'Yes' is logically wrong but common when the tag ( e.g. 'I'll wait') is also present; speakers seldom have the opportunity to stop and think about the 'Do you mind?' form, and this includes native AmE/BrE speakers.
8. Anything? (Is there anything I can do for you? / How may I help you?) - fragmented, seems vague?-- Yes, it seems vague and fragmentary out of context.
9. I'll ask her an apology. (I'll apologize to her. / I should make an apology.) - this sounds illogical?-- Not a natural AmE/BrE formation.
10. We take lunch. (We eat lunch. / We have lunch (every Sunday).)-- 'Take' seems to be an occasional replacement in this context in many Englishes. It is not an egregious variation.
11. We accept repairs. (This shop repairs cars/cellphones, etc.)-- Seems fine to me.
12. We accept painting jobs. (This shop does painting jobs.)- Quite common.
13. Tuck out (Untuck)- Odd.
14. He was salvaged. (He was assassinated.)-- A new meaning for the word for me, and it is not in the dictionary. Perhaps some confusion with 'savaged'?
15. She delivered her baby yesterday. (She had her baby yesterday. / Dr. Smith delivered her baby.)-- This is fine. From the dictionary-- 'to give birth to: She delivered twins at 4 a.m. '
16. Xerox (Photocopy)-- Very common in AmE at least. Among my generation, 'to xerox' is perhaps more usual than 'to photocopy'.
17. Oppositor (Opposition member)-- A new word for me. Not a bad formation, but perhaps difficult to understand by foreigners.
18. Hand carry (Carry - on luggage)-- A new word, but reasonable.
19. It's traffic today. (Traffic is heavy.) -- It seems vague and fragmentary
20. Senatoriable (Senatorial candidate) -- Odder than #17
21. At around 2pm (At about 2pm) - around is Am? about is Brit?- Very common in AmE; it also appears with this meaning in the Cambridge dictionary.
22. I failed in Accent training. (I failed accent training.)-- A common expression, though I prefer your alternative.
23. We were under Mr. Johnson. (Mr. Johnson was our teacher.) - Filipinos are used to saying 'That student is under my class' so this filipinism has started.-- In context, 'We were under Mr. Johnson' sounds fine, while 'That student is under my class' does not.
24. My brother is taking up law. (My brother is taking law. / My brother is studying law.) -- 'Take up' is common, but means the overall intention, not just the matriculation.
25. Where are you studying? (Where do you go to school? / What school do you go to?)- 'Where are you studying' is fine.
26. Pass by my office before you go. (Drop by my office before you go.) - Brit/Am phrasal?-- Not AmE, at least. 'Stop by' or 'Drop by'.
27. We have one participant only. (We only have one participant.) - should they say 'only one participant'?-- The 'only' can go in several places; at the end is one of those places.
28. I talked to her already. (I already talked to her.) - I need help on adverb order. This confuses all Filipinos and me too. Where should adverbs be placed?- Adverbs are relatively variable in their placement. In this case, both are all OK. More interesting is that AmE uses simple past more consistently with 'yet' and 'already' than does BrE, which prefers the perfect aspect.
29. Will you be at the office at 7am? Actually. (Will you be at the office at 7am? Yes.)-- Not AmE/BrE
30. Actually, I like Jennifer Aniston. (I like Jennifer Aniston.) - Actually/basically has become Filipinos expressions.-- I wouldn't say that it is unique to Filipinos; many AmE speakers develop the habit in various contexts. Too much is too much, however.
31. As per Paul, all request forms should be signed by him. (As per Paul's instructions, all request forms should be signed by him.)-- This is common bizspeak throughout the English-speaking world.
32. Wanted: Sewer (Wanted: Tailor or seamstress)-- Yes, it is certainly open to misinterpretation! But 'seamstress' is sexist.
33. Take home (Take it home / To go. / For take out)-- 'Take home food' seems like a regional variant of 'take out food'.
34. I felt kind of tired. (I felt rather tired.)-- 'Kind of' is very common in informal AmE.
35. As to the projectâ¦ (About the projectâ¦)-- A common formality in most Englishes.
36. Thank you for that/this one. (Thank you for the information. / Thank you.) - I need to send this in a few minutes and I still couldn't think of an explanation. Phrasing sounds awkward to me. But besides getting straight to the point, why did 'for that/this one' make it wrong?-- 'One' is wrongly used; 'information' is uncountable.
37. I do love playing basketball/volleyball. (I love playing basketball/volleyball.) - this may sound right depending on the flow of the conversation, right? e.g. you don't love playing... No, I do...-- You are correct. This is called the emphatic 'do'.
38. Currently, I live in Quezon City right now. (Currently, I live in Quezon City. / I live in Quezon City.) - redundant - now and currently.- Yes, redundant.
39. Actually, I like Microsoft, Symantec and Adobe (I like Microsoft Symantec and Adobe)-- The comma is necessary if Microsoft and Symantec are different softwares.
40. As per Mon, all request forms should be signed by him. (As per Paul's instructions, all request forms should be signed by him.)-- This is the same as #31, and OK.
41. I do apologize (I apologize.)-- This is fine indeed. It is the same as #37, and is more polite than your bracketed alternative.
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Re: Present Perfect (americans)

Diamondrg — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:40:10 GMT

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? [5]

in a domestic situation where it is known that the front door is locked at bedtime every night. In that case, [5] is more or less equivalent to Did you
lock the front door at bedtime? (Incidentally, in [5], "the" in "the front door" is another case of situational definiteness; cfS.Uff.)

--

The ATTITUDINAL PAST, used with verbs expressing volition or mental state, reflects the tentative attitude of the speaker, rather than past time.
In the following pairs, both the present and past tenses refer to a present state of mind, but the latter is somewhat more polite:

Do/Did you want to see me now?
I wonder/wondered if you could help us.

--

Where did you put my purse ? [ 1 ]
Where have you put my purse? [2]

The purpose of both of these questions may be to find the purse; but in [1] the speaker seems to ask the addressee to remember a past action; while in [2] the speaker apparently concentrates on the purse's present whereabouts. There are many such cases.

--

Leaving aside such virtual equivalences, we may now focus on the difference between the two constructions, contrasting the meanings of the simple past given in 4.14 with the following meanings of the simple present perfective:

(a) STATE LEADING UP TO THE PRESENT

That house has been empty for ages.
Have you known my sister for long?

(b) INDEFINITE EVENT(S) IN A PERIOD LEADING UP TO THE PRESENT

Have you (ever) been to Florence?
All our children have had measles.

(c) HABIT (ie recurrent event) IN A PERIOD LEADING UP TO THE PRESENT

Mr Terry has sung in this choir ever since he was a boy.
The province has suffered from disastrous floods throughout its history.

Of these meanings, (a) corresponds to the 'state past' use of the simple past, but differs from it in specifying that the state continues at least up to the present moment (cf: That house was empty for ages - but now it's been sold); (b) corresponds to the 'event past', but differs from it in that the past time in question is indefinite rather than definite (cf: Did you go to Florence (last summer) ?); (c) corresponds to the 'habitual past', but, as with (a), the period identified must continue up to the present.

Note In AmE there is a tendency to use the past tense in preference to the present perfective, especially for the indefinite past; eg: Did you ever go to Florence ? (c/4.13 Note lb], 4.22 Note [a ]).

--

Have you seen the Javanese Art Exhibition? [yet]
Did you see the Javanese Art Exhibition? [when it was here]

The first of these implies that the Exhibition is still open; the second that the Exhibition has finished. From this concern with a period still existing at the present time, it is only a short step to the second implication often associated with the present perfective, viz that the event is recent. The simple present perfective is often used to report a piece of news:

_., , > the news? The president has resigned.

Because of this connotation of recency, B's reply in the following exchange must be considered absurdly inappropriate:

A: Has the postman left any letters? B: Yes, he did six months ago.

Since postmen in general deliver letters daily, the implicit time zone in this case would be no longer than a day.

[Note] In AmE, the simple past is often preferred to the present perfective for the variants of the indefinite past discussed in this section. Compare [6 ], for example, with Did the children come home yet? <esp AmE). Other AmE examples are: I just came back; You told me already; and without an adverb: /*m tired -1 had a long day.

* A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (Quirk et al.]

Re: Please, help me with this question

CalifJim — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 23:17:31 GMT

Anonymous
... I have read a magazine * today ,how to explain that we don't use the Simple Past, but the Present Perfect tense here? Because the action of reading a magazine happened today, time is definite! ...

The present perfect shows indefiniteness with respect to time, yes. But you can restrict the indefiniteness with a since clause.

I have read a magazine since I saw you last.

today is a special adverb that can be used in place of a since clause with the present perfect, because (unlike adverbs like yesterday) it includes the moment of speaking:

I have read a magazine [since the beginning of this day / today].

Anonymous
... what's the difference between:

I read a magazine today. ... and I have read a magazine today. ...

The difference is subtle. The present perfect is conceptually a step removed from the real action of the simple past. The present perfect is indirect compared to the direct simple past.

I read a magazine today expresses what happened. It tells what I did directly.

I have read a magazine today expresses the existence of a state resulting from what happened. It tells what I have on my list of 'things done today'. It tells what I did, but only indirectly through the implication of what's on 'my list', which is what the sentence is really focusing on.

Re: past vs present perfect

Clive — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:15:19 GMT

Hi,

I know that you use the simple past for an action happened in a definite time in the past and the present perfect for a time period that didnât end yet. There's more to it than that. You need to review the uses of the Present perfect in a good grammar book.

Once, I heard Peter Griffin say this on an episode of âthe family guyâ: Iâve never asked for anything, but I donât know where else to turnâ. <<< This example is fine.

-Can I assume that all the times I want to use the adverb âneverâ, I should use the present perfect? No, that's not correct. eg I never loved her. eg I will never love her.

-If so, what are the others adverbs, or other words that indicate that I have to use the present perfect? In his book on 'Practical English Usage', Michael Swan says that the Present perfect is often used with indefinite time expressions . . . eg . . . ever, never, yet, already, before.

Instead of trying to always reason if the time period is definite or didnât end yet, Iâm trying to find some kind of âtrickâ that can help me to make things easier. Like, I already know that if I use the word today, I should use the present perfect. <<< This sounds odd. You think 'I phoned Mary today' is wrong?

Iâd like to make a list of all the words that usually indicate the need to use either the past or the present perfect. See Swan's comment above.

You're welcome.

Clive

past vs present perfect

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:15:31 GMT

Hi, I know that you use the simple past for an action happened in a definite time in the past and the present perfect for a time period that didnât end yet. Once, I heard Peter Griffin say this on an episode of âthe family guyâ: Iâve never asked for anything, but I donât know where else to turnâ.

-Can I assume that all the times I want to use the adverb âneverâ, I should use the present perfect?

-If so, what are the others adverbs, or other words that indicate that I have to use the present perfect?

Instead of trying to always reason if the time period is definite or didnât end yet, Iâm trying to find some kind of âtrickâ that can help me to make things easier. Like, I already know that if I use the word today, I should use the present perfect. Iâd like to make a list of all the words that usually indicate the need to use either the past or the present perfect.

This is about the 18^th time a post a question on this forum. I donât know how to thank you guys enough. This forum is so useful, you guys are so helpful. The more I post, the more I feel that saying âthanksâ just once is not enough. Iâm gonna keep saying just âthanksâ but that âthanksâ means: you are the best, you are all good men (and women), thank you so much, I cant thank you enough.

Thanks

Re: What's the last movie you've seen?

Goodman — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:33:52 GMT

ETJW-CMD wrote:

Dear Goodman,

I am one of Hoaâs friends, a member of a friendly yet private English-To-Join-the-World Club that we co-founded here in Vietnam. Last night, she showed me this thread and asked for my opinion. My first reaction was that the present perfect and past tense combination - in that particular example - is illogical. However, I could understand where she came from - It is not grammatical correctness but situational acceptability.

When we get together at our weekly meetings, we sometimes have a good, respectful laugh at the craziness and freedom of English language. Richard Lederer writes, âIn this unreliable English tongue, greyhounds arenât grey; a woodchuck is a groundhog; glowworms are fireflies, but fireflies are not flies (they are beetle)â and âhot dogs can be cold, darkrooms can be lit.â â¦ âSometimes you have to believe that all English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what other language do people drive in a parkway and park in a driveway?â

Such a free spirit coupled with the humors of poking at oneself is what makes the language and its people so wonderful to us.

Having said that, I must be fair to Hoa, whom I know of, is a rather sensitive and wonderful lady. I read the text from the sites that she shared - particularly the BBC site â and found out the reason why she selected it. On page one of the BBC text, we see, âWhat was the last film you saw?â and on page five, âthink of the film you have seen recently, what was it called?â The last one Hoa equated it to âwhat was the film you have seen recently called?â That is her way to express her âcoexistenceâ ideal: an ungrammatical sentence â but informally acceptable - can coexist with a prescriptive one.

Perhaps, the missing connection for all of us is the word recently, which goes rather well with the present perfect!

Thank you and Have a good day!
Chau My

Hello ETJW-CMD,

First, on behalf of the forum,welcome! I am not exactly sure the purpose of your post but I take it that you are speaking on behalf of Hao Thai. The particular sentence that touched off a rather messy debate was " what was the last film you have seen" if I am not mistaken. By the face value of this sentence, it's deemed ungrammatical in my opinion but as usual, there are always different views. What I said two postings ago which in some ways seemed to share something in common with your post, if I read it right. Nonetheless, I still believe that past tense and present perfect can't coexist in one single sentence. But they are possible in relative clauses. If we want to talk about the name of the movie you saw, we can say "what is the name of the movie you saw last week?" which is clearly a grammatically correct past tense sentence . But when we try to combine simple past with present perfect, such as "what was the name of the movie you have seen recently?", it just sounds awkward to most ears, although it may be understood. That said, I agree adverbs such as "since" and "recently" along with many others can reflect a present perfect tone. But "what was the name of the movie you have seen recently?" is still not a sound sentence.

Two postings ago I said:

_{There are plenty of instances where present perfect and simple past can co-exist, but not in the same frame of sentence structure. i.e. âwhen was the last time you have visited Disneylandâ? (wrong)}

_{If my English knowledge is correct, the following is a valid sentence. Not only it contains present prefect and past, it has a present reference as well.}

_{I have been to Disneyland with my family many times but I canât remember which year the last visit was.}_{This kind of mixed tense scenario happens}

Re: sequence of tenses

CalifJim — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 02:44:47 GMT

Let me repeat a chart I drew in another post.

Present Point of View Tenses
........ have done ......... do/does .............will do .........
Present Perfect Present Future of the Present

Past Point of View Tenses
........had done .........did ..............would do ..............
Past Perfect Past Future of the Past

Using the correct sequence of tenses is a matter of staying within one of these two points of view as long as your story stays within that same point of view. Your story is usually within the same point of view as long as you join the facts of the story by using subordinating conjunctions.

However, you may change your point of view, and then stay within the other point of view. Often, the change in viewpoint is done with the appropriate adverbs on different sides of a coordinate conjunction.

Note below how the adverbs thirty years ago and now change the point of view from the past point of view (PV2) to the present point of view (PV1).

Ramon's father arrived (PV2) in the USA thirty years ago, || and now Ramon has decided (PV1) that he will return (PV1) to his father's homeland.

In the past point of view you have arrived, a simple past, and in the present point of view you have has decided, a present perfect, and will return, a future (of the present).

CJ

past perfect

Kooyeen — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 23:22:59 GMT

Hi,
little question:
I know I can use the simple past instead of the the present perfect with some adverbs, like "already", "just", ect. What about using the simple past instead of the past perfect? That's common, but I don't kow if it is still common when some adverbs are used. Examples:

I (have) already finished my homework, and now I have nothing to do. <--- ok, in the present
I (had) already finished my homework, and I had nothing to do. <--- this is in the past, can I leave out "had" and use the simple past?

I (have) just finished my homework, and now I have nothing to do. <--- ok, in the present
I (had) just finished my homework, and I had nothing to do. <--- this is in the past, can I leave out "had" and use the simple past?

Thanks

Re: Pucca

Kooyeen — Tue, 22 May 2007 21:22:03 GMT

I always thank them in my threads (well, sometimes I forget). Yeah, sometimes I wonder why they do this. Some questions are boring, simple, stupid, strange, odd... (I ask a lot of those), for example "the difference between simple past and present perfect", "tenses in reported speech", "position of adverbs", etc., but those questions always get an answer anyway. All of that is important stuff for us learners, but why should a native speaker care about that? It's boring! It takes time! For nothing. It's like I spend a lot of my spare time helping some people learn Italian. I could do that (if I knew Italian well), but I don't feel like it. There aren't many people that are willing to teach you English for free. There are thousands of us learners, are there thousands of native speakers here too? No. There are a bunch of natives who answer a lot of questions. Choose 5 or 6 gurus/natives at random and take them away from here. What would be left? A huge forum, many answers, little help. That's why we are lucky, we have some "rare" natives speakers willing to help for free and they are really working a lot. I think we need at least another 10-15 natives here. People like GG, Jim, Yankee, etc. are really working too much, and the number of members is increasing.
Wordreference.com has much more native speakers/helpers, but in the end the ones that work hard are not many. Plus, there aren't any discussion sections, you can only ask questions about languages and the environment is not as friendly as here. Basically, that's why it sucks and never post there.
Ok, now I'm tired of writing here, I don't even know what I said in this post, I hope it makes sense. And I haven't used any emoticons yet, let's drop a smily, yeah
There.

Re: Used To

Yankee — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:16:20 GMT

Hi Hiro

Yes, you can use the simple past tense and an adverb such as often or regularly to indicate that something didn't happen often in the past (and therefore was not habitual).

The negative form of "used to" is often used when something was not habitual in the past, but is habitual now:

He didn't use to forget my birthday when we were dating.
(But now that we're married, he never remembers it.)