Search results for 'tag:Images tag:Past tenses' matching tags 'Images' and 'Past tenses'

Re: past tense of 'may'

Marius Hancu — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 20:38:27 GMT

That's only true in a superficial approach.

Pretty much, they are independent verbs, appearing in all tenses.

See this by Mister Micawber:

Mister Micawber #42001 Fri, 13 Aug 04 08:36 AM

Hi Deer,

'May' and 'might' are related by psychological or social (but not temporal) distance; they are usually interchangeable. 'Might' is more remote than 'may', but neither normally has a 'past' meaning, except by using the 'have' + -ed form: 'I may/might have left my wallet at home.'

Again, the passive has the same relationship to the active as we saw with 'can/could': the object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb.

-for possibility:

'The police may arrest me tomorrow.'
'The police might arrest me tomorrow.' (considered a slightly more remote possibility than with 'may')
'I may be arrested (by the police) tomorrow.'
'I might be arrested (by the police) tomorrow.'

-for permission:

'May I use the car tonight?'
'Might I use the car tonight?' (the speaker is slightly more remote in status, i.e. is more polite)
'May your garden be photographed (by our horticultural club)?'
'Might your garden be photographed (by our horticultural club)?'

-for wishes ('may' only, and an uncommon usage):

'May you have a Merry Christmas!'
'I hope your son may not be bullied at boarding school next year.'

Re: wish clauses

Goodman — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:52:34 GMT

Yoong Liat wrote:
Hi Goodman

You wrote: I have been labeled and called by many descriptions, hinted being âIgnorantâ is the first ...

I'm not hinting that you're ignorant. I say that if a learner tells me "informal" means "wrong", I'll understand that he says so because he is ignorant. But you are not a learner. You're one of the members who have a good command of English. So that's why I say it's not correct for you to say that a usage, which is classified as "informal", is wrong.

I've reproduced below what Michael Swan has to say about "I wish I was ... " and "I wish it wasn't ..." and let the members decide whether you're right to say "I wish it was not raining" or "I wish it wasn't raining" is a wrong usage.

We can use 'wish' to express regrets - to say that we would like things to be different. We use a past tense with a present meaning in this case.
I wish I was better-looking.
I wish it wasn't raining.

In a formal style, we can use 'were' instead of 'was' after 'I wish'.
I wish I were better-looking.

(Basic English Usage by Michael Swan)

Best wishes.

Liat,

With our differences in point of view, I appreciate your reply. For all intents and an purposes, I am still a learner on a different level but I perhaps have the advantage being in a completely English environment and therefore, I may appear to have better command. That said, I do feel there is a certain slight inconsistency among all the different English websites, particularly on the subjunctive. There should not be any argument that âIf I wereâ or âI wish I wereâ is a subjunctive mood. The difference of the agruement really lies in the defining of the rules and the mood expressed in the senstence. The early website quoted âI wish I wasâ as informal.

In reality, after reading this article, that is indeed incorrect. The bottom line, " I wish I was" is against the subjunctive ruels. Take a look at the explanation on this website then you may come to agree with what I said in my earlier threads.

Confusingly enough, in the "self test", some of of the answers are considered "acceptable" or "informal" by some. I should hope that this piece will settle all questions about indicative and subjunctive moods.

Subjunctive Mood

However, if a form of the verb to be were used in that sentence, all polished writers would agree that the subjunctive is necessary: "If he were [not was] ...
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GIW Home		writeDate(); Mon Oct. 8, 2007 \| Tell a Friend \| Subscribe \| Order Our Book
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	Writing Tip: July 30, 2001 The Subjunctive Mood Examine the verbs in each of the following sentences: 1. If Harrison were chosen to be the next chief executive officer of the corporation, several controversial hiring practices would change. 2. If I were you, I would increase my weekly contribution to the company-sponsored retirement fund. 3. I wish that his report were longer. 4. We recommend that the trip be postponed because of violence in the region. 5. The finance department requests that he submit updated budget projections each month. All the above sentences are correct. Two terms apply to the mood of English verbs: indicative and subjunctive. An indicative verb makes a statement that is factual, whereas a verb in the subjunctive mood is used to indicate a situation or condition that is hypothetical, doubtful, or conditional. In the indicative mood, we would never write "Harrison were," "I were," "report were," "trip be," or "he submit," but these verbs are correct in the examples above because each of the sentences is written in the subjunctive mood; that is, in every case, the sentence is describing a situation that is hypothetical or conditional: 1. Harrison is not now the C.E.O., but hypothetically he could be chosen for that position. The conditional nature of the position is suggested by the word if. 2. Again, as the word if makes clear, I am not, in fact, you. So once again the situation is hypothetical and conditional: I would save more only under the condition that I became you. 3. His report is not, in fact, longer, so the sentence speaks of a hypothetical situation. 4. The trip is not currently postponed, so the subjunctive mood is appropriate to suggest a possibility, not an actuality. 5. He is not currently submitting reports monthly, so we use the subjunctive mood to discuss the possibility--not the actuality--of his doing so. For all verbs except to be, the present subjunctive mood is most often made by omitting the characteristic s ending on verbs with third-person singular subjects. Thus, whereas in the indicative mood we would write "man leaves," in the subjunctive mood we would omit the s on the verb leave: "The judge insisted that the man not leave town." For the verb to be, we simply use be for all present tense subjunctive mood verbs and were for all past tense forms, regardless of whether the subject is singular or plural. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (New York: MJF Books, 1993) points out that while many subjunctive-mood phrases are commonly used in ordinary speech--"if I were you," "if need be," "far be it from me," and so on--strict use of the subjunctive mood is rare, even in the most formal speaking and writing situations (243). Very few people would write, for example, "If he arrive on time, we will have dinner before the show." However, if a form of the verb to be were used in that sentence, all polished writers would agree that the subjunctive is necessary: "If he were [not was] to arrive on time, we could have dinner before the show." The Harbrace College Handbook (13th edition) lists other common, fixed expressions that are stated in the subjunctive mood: "so be it," "be that as it may," "as it were," and "God bless you" (99-100). TEST YOURSELF Which of the following sentences need verbs in the subjunctive mood? 1. If I was Sam, I would hire an assistant now before the hiring freeze takes effect. 2. The committee suggested that Dr. Jones is chosen as the next chief of staff. 3. As August approaches, every school child wishes that his or her vacation was longer. 4. It is critical that every potential donor gives blood during this shortage. ANSWERS 1. If I WERE Sam, I would hire an assistant now before the hiring freeze takes effect. 2. The committee suggested that Dr. Jones BE chosen as the next chief of staff. 3. As August approaches, every school child wishes that his or her vacation WERE longer. This is almost the exact sentence identified as correct in your past post. 4. It is critical that every potential donor GIVE blood during this shortage. Copyright 2001 Get It Write More Tips \| Tell a Friend *Special Request:* Please share these tips with friends and colleagues and encourage them to subscribe. (If you post the tips to an internal distribution list of any size, please tell us the nature of the list and the number of subscribers. We would like to know how many people we are reaching with this service. We appreciate your positive feedback and excellent comments!)

Re: Wrought- work or wreak?

Marius Hancu — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:53:48 GMT

It seems things are under dispute

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/wrought.html
(see the end)
Word Usage


	Wrought is an old past tense and past participle not of wreak (for which the past tense is wreaked) but of work: it is the equivalent of modern worked. Wrought survives mainly as an adjective in a few, rather specialized contexts such as wrought iron; it is seen also in the set phrase What hath God wrought (used by Samuel Morse in the first successful test of the telegraph). Wrought havoc is not correct; it should be wreaked havoc.

-----------------

but I'd take Oxford's view, which is more explicit than Cambridge in this case.

Re: Wrought- work or wreak?

Marius Hancu — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:50:24 GMT

get-->

wreak

â¢ verb 1 cause (a large amount of damage or harm). 2 inflict (vengeance).

â USAGE The past tense of wreak is wreaked, as in rainstorms wreaked havoc yesterday, not wrought. When wrought is used in the phrase wrought havoc, it is in fact an archaic past tense of work.

â ORIGIN Old English, drive (out), avenge; related to WRECK and WRETCH.

Re: "shall" and "will" for 18th century readers: interchangeable?

Intelligent Freak — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:43:23 GMT

Ok, I got it but I don't know how to put the link here so i'll just paste the context here. This was given by CalifJim as response to the subject "Conditional with Modal Verbs"...

Strictly speaking, the modals are not tensed. However, they developed historically from tensed verbs. Each group below shows a "historical present / past" pair.

can / could
shall / should
will / would
may / might
must - not paired

In modern English, any of these can be used in a single clause sentence, but when it occurs in just one of two or more clauses in the same sentence, it needs to be matched correctly with the tense in the other clause.

Typically, when the accompanying clause is an "if" clause, the historical present tense forms go with present tense verbs, and historical past tense forms go with past tense verbs. However, "could" and "might", meaning "may" ("it is possible"), can be used with present tense verbs (as well as with past tense verbs). "should" has lost most of its force as a past tense and is better thought of as a present tense form in modern English, meaning "it is advisable". ("shall" is the least used of the modals shown above.) The result of all these historical changes is that in modern English we have far more choices in sentences with a present point of view than in those with a past point of view.

With this in mind we have:

If she has [present] time, she [can, could, (shall), should, will, may, might, must] go to the party. [not "would']

If she had [past] time, she [could, would, might] go to the party. [not "should"]

For reported speech we have the pairs:

He says that he [can, could, (shall), should, will, would, may, might, must] go to the party.

He said that he [could, could, (shall), should, would, would, might, might, must] go to the party.

Note how "can", "will", and "may" are restricted to the present, and the corresponding forms "could", "would", and "might" are used to report "can" or "could", "will" or "would", or "may" or "might" in the past.

CJ

To Wuthering Heights , I hope I was able to help.

He had suffered ill health or he suffered

Rex — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 12:14:49 GMT

Mr Cheney said Mr Ford gave the country the strength, wisdom and good judgement it needed as it faced its greatest constitutional crisis since the civil war.

People placed flags and flowers outside the Gerald Ford Museum

In Michigan, a makeshift shrine formed outside the Gerald Ford Museum as a steady stream of people lit candles and laid flowers and flags.

Gerald Ford lived with his wife Betty, 88, at Rancho Mirage, about 130 miles (210km) east of Los Angeles in southern California.

The former president had suffered ill health this year and was taken to hospital four times for tests and angioplasty. He suffered a stroke in 2000.

Last month he became the longest-living US president when he reached 93 years and 122 days, passing the record held by President Ronald Reagan.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He lived with his wife Betty. [The simple past tense.]

He sufferec a stroke. [ The simple past tense.]

He had suffered ill health this year and was taken to hospital four times. [ This is past perfect.]

It is obvious to me that this is a past event. He was ill several times this year and was taken to hospital.

Is it necessary to write past perfect in this context?

1.He suffered ill health this year and was taken to hospital four times.

The above simple past sentence is ample in this case, I believe.

Your comment please.

Re: Resume Letter Cover

Clive — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 05:24:25 GMT

Hi,

The format still does not seem quite right, but I'll try to comment. I'm commenting based on the format that people use here where I live.

Put your name /address / phone / email at the top, as a heading.

Then put these sections, in this order:

OBJECTIVE (what position you are looking for, very briefly)

SKILLS

EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE

EDUCATION

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS / MEMBERSHIPS

REFERENCES (Just say 'available on request')

Why don't you make the changes I've suggested, if you want to, and then repost this.

The format you gave me to work with is an awkward one.

Can you just type in, directly, what you want me to look at?

Best wishes, Clive
_____________________________________________

EDUCATION

2005 Curtin University of Technology Bachelor of Science (Safety and Health)

1998 Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Higher Certificate in Building Studies Education (IVE)

1987 Construction Industry Training Construction Safety Officer Certificate Authority (CITA)

PROFESSIONAL QULAIIFICATION

2006 Labour Department where? Registered Safety Officer

1998 Labour Department Registered Safety Officer

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP

2005 Institute of Occupational Safety IOSH Member No. 100121

and Health Where? Which country?

Available: Immediate Just say this in cover letter

Skill: Familiar with computer software: Microsoft Office, PowerPoint, Excel, Word 'Familiar' is a weak word. 'Good knowledge of ...' ?

WORKING EXPERIENCES

Period Job description

CLP Engineering Limited Where, what city/country? Safety Engineer

June 2002~ Present Put a sentence for overall duties, and the rest in brief point form, starting with a 'bullet' dot. You don't need all these reference numbers, the reader wil not care

Too long, too many numbers, use point form >>> With 4 years experience performing Registered Safety Officer of CLPE, including, a full time Safety Officer for Highways Department Project MOM Contract No. 01/HY/2002 since Jun 2003, the projects had been handled including KCRC-Siemens-DB1500 Project, Airport Authority Airport Lighting Maintenance No. M120, CLP-Castle Peak Power Plant Building Renovation Project, MTRCL 595A etc., the main duties included coordinating safety meeting and activities, performing site safety check, reporting site safety performance of subcontractors and investigating any accident happened.

Duties

Perform Registered Safety Officer duties according to the Factories and Industrial Undertaking (Safety Officers & Safety Supervisors) Regulations to advise and provide technical support to project teams on occupational safety & health compliance issues.

Manage companyâs Safety, Health & Environmental (SH&E) Management systems are well maintained in accordance with the CLPE polices.

Manage regular risk assessment, surveys, site inspections & internal audits and to address required follow up actions to responsible units.

Perform incident & accident investigation and address feasible recommendations.

Comply site SH&E performance statistic and submit monthly RSOâs report to CLPE.

Co-ordinate SH&E promotional activities and SH&E training with CLPE

Perform driving duties and other relevant duties related to SH&E management.

Geotechnics & Concrete Engineering (HK) Limited Safety Officer,

December 2001 ~ June 2002

Reporting to the Safety Manager as a full time safety officer for Civil Engineering and Development Department Contract no. GE/2001/13

Duties

Managing GCE (HK) Ltd. Safety management system

Attending client safety meeting

Perform joint safety check

Report site safety performance monthly

Investigate any accident happened

Organize safety training

Kentâs Construction & Engineering Company Safety Officer,

September 1997 ~December 2001 Put the dates on same line as Compnay name, and in front of the name

With 4 years overseeing the site safety for Highways Department -Public Lighting Construction & Maintenance Contract. For past jobs, put your verbs in past tense, ie performed

Duties

Perform Registered Safety Officer (RSO) duties according to the Factories and Industrial Undertaking (Safety Officers & Safety Supervisors) Regulations to advise project management team on legal compliance related to safety issues;

Manage companyâs Safety, Health & Environmental (SH&E) Management systems are well maintained in accordance with the CLPE policies;

Manage regular risk assessment, surveys, site inspections and system audits and address required follow up actions to responsible project;

Performance incident & accident investigation and address feasible recommendations;

Comply site SH&E performance statistic and submitting monthly RSOâs report to CLPE;

Co-ordinate SH&E promotional activities and SH&E training with CLPE;

Perform safety advisor role in the Company Safety Committee Meeting;

Perform driving duties and other relevant duties related to SH&E management.

And also, attending CLPE safety meeting, joint site safety check with CLPE, reporting the site safety performance monthly and investigating any accident happened to CLPE

Re: lie/lay

Goodman — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 22:07:41 GMT

Anonymous wrote:
I realized how exhausted I was, and how little I was looking forward to what LAY ahead. Is this correct? What should this be? Thanks!

Hope this article helps .....

LANGUAGE CORNER
Lie, Lay, and All That

Lie This to Rest?

BY EVAN JENKINS

No, of course not. But the confusion between "lie" and "lay" was different and subtler in the following passage, which said someone who maneuvered for a job too overtly "did not do what a shrewd operator would do and lay low, but openly threw himself into the matter."

Someone was thinking of the expression "to lie low," meaning to hunker down, make oneself inconspicuous. Introduced by "did not," as it was in the example, the verb required the present tense: the job candidate "did not ... lie low." "Lay" is the past tense of "lie" â she lay low for awhile. The past perfect tense is "lain" â until that day, she had lain low.

Lie, lay, lain.

"To lie" means to rest, be at rest, repose, or just exist on or in some place ("the fault lies with the captain, not the crew") or in some condition or position (lie low, lie down). Probably because its past tense is "lay," the word is often confused with ...

... "To lay," meaning to put or place something somewhere (including to bring forth an egg). It takes an object â lay that pistol down, babe â and no form of "to lie" does. (Well, "lie your heart out," but that's another "lie.") .) The past tense of "lay" is "laid," and so is its past perfect tense.

Lay, laid, laid.

Despite some nay-sayers, the failure to distinguish between "lie" and "lay" is widely considered illiterate. And yet the failure is surprisingly common. Is the only answer rote memorization? Seems so, but anyone with a mnemonic trick that has helped avoid the confusion is welcome to send it along.

Re: Toam Ceramic Park

Clive — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 05:01:07 GMT

Hi,

I went to a ceramic park yesterday. There are a lot of loess dolls at the park. Idon't know what a ceramic park is, nor what a loess doll is. Did you spell 'loess' correctly?

I wrote about them. Could you read and correct them for me? Thank you very much. OK, I'll try.

I've suggested various changes. Please read carefully. I assume that Toam is still alive, so you can use present tense. If he died, use past tense about him.

I enjoyed reading this, you write with simple, clear thoughts.

Best wishes, Clive

We can encounter singing clay dolls everywhere at Toam Ceramic Park. Toam Seo Taweon, whose pen name is Toam, made all of them. We call a clay doll âTouâ. He describes his Tous like this.

âI donât want to hear, so I have no ears.

I donât want to think so I have an empty head.

I will just sing a song. â

He was diagnosed with cancer in 1997. He rejected treatment and surgery , but fights against cancer in his own way, making these Tous. He expressesd his mind through the singing Tous with absentmindedness <<< I don't understand your meaning here Tous without ears, empty Tous.

I found a green smiling Tou among them. It has stood on the same spot for a long time, and has become part of nature. Its face is covered by green moss. It still sings with a green smile.



GIW Home		writeDate(); Mon Oct. 8, 2007 \| Tell a Friend \| Subscribe \| Order Our Book
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	Writing Tip: July 30, 2001 The Subjunctive Mood Examine the verbs in each of the following sentences: 1. If Harrison were chosen to be the next chief executive officer of the corporation, several controversial hiring practices would change. 2. If I were you, I would increase my weekly contribution to the company-sponsored retirement fund. 3. I wish that his report were longer. 4. We recommend that the trip be postponed because of violence in the region. 5. The finance department requests that he submit updated budget projections each month. All the above sentences are correct. Two terms apply to the mood of English verbs: indicative and subjunctive. An indicative verb makes a statement that is factual, whereas a verb in the subjunctive mood is used to indicate a situation or condition that is hypothetical, doubtful, or conditional. In the indicative mood, we would never write "Harrison were," "I were," "report were," "trip be," or "he submit," but these verbs are correct in the examples above because each of the sentences is written in the subjunctive mood; that is, in every case, the sentence is describing a situation that is hypothetical or conditional: 1. Harrison is not now the C.E.O., but hypothetically he could be chosen for that position. The conditional nature of the position is suggested by the word if. 2. Again, as the word if makes clear, I am not, in fact, you. So once again the situation is hypothetical and conditional: I would save more only under the condition that I became you. 3. His report is not, in fact, longer, so the sentence speaks of a hypothetical situation. 4. The trip is not currently postponed, so the subjunctive mood is appropriate to suggest a possibility, not an actuality. 5. He is not currently submitting reports monthly, so we use the subjunctive mood to discuss the possibility--not the actuality--of his doing so. For all verbs except to be, the present subjunctive mood is most often made by omitting the characteristic s ending on verbs with third-person singular subjects. Thus, whereas in the indicative mood we would write "man leaves," in the subjunctive mood we would omit the s on the verb leave: "The judge insisted that the man not leave town." For the verb to be, we simply use be for all present tense subjunctive mood verbs and were for all past tense forms, regardless of whether the subject is singular or plural. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (New York: MJF Books, 1993) points out that while many subjunctive-mood phrases are commonly used in ordinary speech--"if I were you," "if need be," "far be it from me," and so on--strict use of the subjunctive mood is rare, even in the most formal speaking and writing situations (243). Very few people would write, for example, "If he arrive on time, we will have dinner before the show." However, if a form of the verb to be were used in that sentence, all polished writers would agree that the subjunctive is necessary: "If he were [not was] to arrive on time, we could have dinner before the show." The Harbrace College Handbook (13th edition) lists other common, fixed expressions that are stated in the subjunctive mood: "so be it," "be that as it may," "as it were," and "God bless you" (99-100). TEST YOURSELF Which of the following sentences need verbs in the subjunctive mood? 1. If I was Sam, I would hire an assistant now before the hiring freeze takes effect. 2. The committee suggested that Dr. Jones is chosen as the next chief of staff. 3. As August approaches, every school child wishes that his or her vacation was longer. 4. It is critical that every potential donor gives blood during this shortage. ANSWERS 1. If I WERE Sam, I would hire an assistant now before the hiring freeze takes effect. 2. The committee suggested that Dr. Jones BE chosen as the next chief of staff. 3. As August approaches, every school child wishes that his or her vacation WERE longer. This is almost the exact sentence identified as correct in your past post. 4. It is critical that every potential donor GIVE blood during this shortage. Copyright 2001 Get It Write More Tips \| Tell a Friend *Special Request:* Please share these tips with friends and colleagues and encourage them to subscribe. (If you post the tips to an internal distribution list of any size, please tell us the nature of the list and the number of subscribers. We would like to know how many people we are reaching with this service. We appreciate your positive feedback and excellent comments!)

Search results for 'tag:Images tag:Past tenses' matching tags 'Images' and 'Past tenses'

Re: past tense of 'may'

Re: wish clauses

Re: Wrought- work or wreak?

Re: Wrought- work or wreak?

wreak

Re: "shall" and "will" for 18th century readers: interchangeable?

He had suffered ill health or he suffered

Re: Resume Letter Cover

SKILLS

EDUCATION

PROFESSIONAL QULAIIFICATION

WORKING EXPERIENCES

Period Job description

Re: lie/lay

LANGUAGE CORNERLie, Lay, and All That

Lie This to Rest?

Lie, lay, lain.

Lay, laid, laid.

Re: Toam Ceramic Park

LANGUAGE CORNER
Lie, Lay, and All That