Search results for 'tag:Formal letter tag:Present perfect' matching tags 'Formal letter' and 'Present perfect'

present vs. present perfect tense

Marshmellow_coffee — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:01:13 GMT

Hi :)

I am typing a formal letter and I am confused as to which tense I should use:

"We look forward to receiving your confirmation that the application is / has been withdrawn."

I am also confused about the structure - is it considered some kind of reported speech, or conditionals, or something else? I'd really appreciate it if you can explain why I should choose one tense over the other :)

Thanks in advance!

Present Perfect / Past Simple

Ant_222 — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 22:25:23 GMT

Good Time of Day!

  Well, I just read the list of members online and found this:

  --
  In the past 3 days, the most popular thread for  everyone  has
  been "Sample of formal letter writing". The post with the most
  views is "Live chat room". The most  replies  _were_  made  to
  "GUESS MY WORD"
  --

  The first two sentences are in a present tense while the  last
  one uses Past Simple. What's the reason?

Thanks in advance,
Anton

Re: This is the first time Hamas is running candidates for parliament.

Aperisic — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 17:43:17 GMT

Kooyeen wrote:

I was told to use the present or past perfect in those situations, but I often find the present continuous (even in newspapers).

Kim O'Donnel: This is the first time I'm hearing a negative report.

He is surprised. And he says that hearing reports is happening frequently in his profession.

So when can I use the present continuous?

Sorry, I am not trying to be rude here, but you probably still cannot because you do not feel even when others use it why they use it.

this is the second post I'm writing in this thread

You can if one, some or all these conditions are met and you want to stress it (or them)

it is not a formal letter or post
you are excited or you hate or have some other strong feeling about writing posts (surprised maybe)
this is not going to be your last post written
you expect something after you finish writing
you want to tell us more later about the post you are writing
you want to make difference between writing it and finishing it
you want to say that you are just about the beginning of the post
â¦

Do not be confused. Nobody said about the grammar. Please, use the present perfect, always. This is just the explanation why people or journalists use it: to express excitement, joyâ¦

If you feel sometimes that way you can use the present continuous. But not before you feel this intention when you read it. Grammatically the rule says the present perfect but when you sell the news - who cares about the grammar? It is an effect that is important far more. And that is why the present continuous is used. It is an exception that is permissible within a style. You'll find many of these in many forms.

Donât let them confuse you. If you do not feel that the present continuous should be there - do not use it - but now you understand better, I hope, what it means when you read it.

[People who are born with English as their mother tongue are not only the users but also the owners of the language. They all are above the grammar. If sufficiently many of them feel that something is not appropriate or that something is better or useful, the grammar will change.]

Please explain

Dmitrij — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 06:25:48 GMT

Dear friends,

I am a new comer here, so I've just been going through some of the posts to get the idea of this forum. As I've already noticed there are some members, such as MountainHiker and Mister Micawber, who stand out because of their English skills and willingness to help others to improve. Not long ago I came across an interesting writing session that took place a year ago where MountainHiker and Mister Micawber had been bringing cbakumar's informal letter up to stylistic and grammar standards. At the end of this discussion everybody agreed that the final version of the letter should include a sentence quoted below:

"I didn't even congratulate you when I heard that you have passed your exams with 1st class and you have been promoted to the next rank."

For me it sounds perfect, but there is one thing, still, that parts with my understanding of what good grammar should be.
Please, explain me the reason for using the present perfect tense in "I heard that you have passed your exams" instead of "I heard that you had passed your exams".

Thank you,

Dmitrij.

Re: this sentence?

Mister Micawber — Mon, 09 Aug 2004 00:10:15 GMT