By Idioms, Present tenses

Are they wrong since the modal usages lack the fundamental conditional uses of the modals 'would' and 'could'? Not sure what you're asking. The correct sequence of tenses applies to conditionals as well as to non-conditionals. 1. We are all watching in a sort of stunned...

They certainly seem correct to me. Perhaps it's the idiom happen to that's bothering you.If you happen to have money = If, by chance, it turns out that you have money CJ

"You're lucky the cops didn't pick you up for drunk driving." It just occured to me that this might be considered an idiom. Perhaps someone can verify. It's really a special case. The "lucky" part is present tense, but the momentary luck applies to a (recent)...

1. to steal the showa) Jack Nicholson stole the show in Batman. (question: is it possible to use this idiom as far as idioms are concerned? question2: would it be better to use here the pres. perfect?) I think this is fine, though when talking about movies (especially describing action), we...

I know 'would' carries many meanings. My problem is sometimes I find it difficult to tell which meaning the speaker uses. I think I understand its hypothetical usage, and in some contexts, its politeness usage. Below is a post that has several woulds I have trouble interpreting. I also...

And why is it not "have gotten" instead of "have got" ? Isn't it that the correct construction is: have + past participle(verb) ? There are two past participles of the verb "to get"! got and gotten. In the perfect tenses, the British use got, and the Americans use...

But gotten is not used after have, even in AmE, for the idiom have got, meaning have (present tense). I have got a pen. Has he got $2? Not I have gotten a pen. Has he gotten $2? if a present tense meaning is required. CJ

Dear teachers, Would you please tell which sentences are wrong and why? 1 a) I feel better since I moved house.OK b) I am feeling much better since I have moved house.OK (if both are correct what would be the difference between them, please?) b) means you have recently moved...