By Articles, Past simple

There's some truth in that article. My parents, for instance, used to speak in Sardinian (not a dialect, but recognised as an endangered language by the UNESCO) when talking to each other or to their relatives, but they would only speak Italian with my brother and me. I grew up monolingual,...

<<Do we have to use the definite article "the" for each tense or not? >> To be very strict about it, yes, but we frequently write telegraphically and leave out the the, especially on this site, where we use the names of the tenses so often. <<1.In the use of the Present...

There are twelve tenses in English grammar. Do we have to use the definite article "the"for each tense or not? Can you give me some explanations,please?In the below examples, Do we have to use "the" or not?1.In the use of the Present Simple.2.The Present Perfect Tense or Present Perfect...

Yoong Liat wrote: Did you see two blue bags which I left / had left on the table? Which verb in bold should I use? Thank you very much. Well, since YL in interested in British English, and since nobody mentioned this before, I think a native speaker would:- generally use present perfect instead...

Kooyeen wrote:That's true in general, but when we have a context and some particles like "never", "always", "already", etc., it seems to me that that distinction is not so clear anymore. For example:I've already seen that movie / I already saw that movie - In context, they can be used in the...

Hi everyone, I read some articles about this, not long ago. Clive wrote:Is grammar essential for learning a language? The answer is NO, NO, NO. Bird of Paradise, the book you read is right. We didn't learn the grammar of our first language before we were able to use it. I believe no...

I guess "have written" can be ok. Like: "It was the last time I have written an article." EDIT: maybe it's being the last time is considered as a sort of connetion with the present, thus making Present Perfect fit. By the way, a google search returned equal numbers of entries of 1. "it has been...

As Past Simple says, "the bomb" refers to the ability to construct and detonate a nuclear bomb. Please, let's not have more discussion about about what could have been meant. In any discussion about countries building up weapons, "the bomb" means "having nuclear capabilities."

Hm.... Thank you for the reply, Goodman, but I'm still a bit confused.When I want to say that it would be better if the person would do something, do I say "You had better do something" or "You would better do something"? I know you said I have to use "had" here, but "would" suit much better...

Hi guys, I'm not on holiday, I just had to go to work today. The pay for answering questions about the Past Perfect on the Forum is not enough to cover my cost of living. The Past Simple could be used in the original article, but the Past Perfect is also correct and it's better. It makes the...