In Past perfect^x, American English^x, Tenses^x

"I wondered whether you could help me?", Simple past, completed action. This is not present tense, but I suppose the "past time" could be one second ago. I don't use this. "I had wondered whether you could help me?" Past perfect tense. The action (wonder)...

Hi Fandorin You seem to be mixing things up. Angliholic's sentence is not an example of the idiomatic " to have got ", which means basically the same thing as "to have" or "to possess". In that idiom, it is not possible to change the word 'got' to...

1 . I wonder who is making / was making that dreadful row . - are both versions possible? Yes. If you are talking about the noise going on now, use "is" but if you are talking about that noise you hear last night, for example, use "was." 2 . After he had eaten an enormous dinner, he...

Hi Magda I'd say both your sentences are correct. There is a tendency in American English to use the past tense with always and never , but the perfect tense is of course also right. (I do realize that in your example the past perfect is used.) Examples: I always wanted to see him in person. / I...

What do you think about patterns with both clauses in simple past? They are among the most useful, I think, and they sound quite natural. See previous post. No. had already is common in that context, but just already is also fine in American English. Personally, I would have chosen had...

3/ What's the difference between : I would like to see it VS I should like to see it. In American English, you do not use "I should" to mean "I would like to," which translates roughly into "Please, may I see it." I'm sure you can construct a situation in which you'd say "I should like to...

"in future" for British English. "in the future" for American English. 1. Correct. 2. Wrong. "... what you would like to do ..." is the correct form. The question part (requiring inversion of "you have" to "have you") is correct. That's the main clause. The second clause is subordinate, so...

I've posted this in another thread: would + base form of verb = simple conditional (would go) would + have + past participle = perfect conditional (would have gone) Both are usually seen in conditional sentences Types II and III. Type II: "If it started to rain now, I would stay at home." ...

We use "think" in the past simple or past perfect tense to indicate a belief that was previously held but that has been shown to be incorrect. For example: I didn't think she was going. (past simple) I had thought that she wasn't going. (past perfect) The exception is in converting from...