Search results for 'tag:Past perfect tag:Nouns' matching tags 'Past perfect' and 'Nouns'

Re: The Continuous tense

Tanit — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:52:57 GMT

Anonymous
Is it a rule that the auxiliary, the past participle and the main verb are immediately after one another with no other words inbetween?

No, such a rule does not exist.

Anonymous
For example: "Have you ever had the feeling that you're being followed?"
This sentence has both "have" and "had" and two continuous verbs in it ("feeling" and "being"), but is it neither Present Perfect Continuous nor Past Perfect Continuous?

Your sentence is in the present perfect. "Have you ever had ..."
"the feeling" is a gerund, and acts as if it were a noun (it's the direct complement of "have had"). Try and replace it with "idea", "impression" etc (I'm not saying they are perfect synonym for "feeling" -- it's just to demonstrate that you can have a noun there, and to show you that "feeling" is not acting as a verb in your sentence). Another clue to understand its function is that it's preceded by the article "the".
"that you're being followed" this is a "that-clause" which describes what sort of "feeling" we are talking about. "being" here has to be seen together with "are" and "followed": "are being followed" is present continuous, passive.

Re: would rather ....

Goodman — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:47:51 GMT

This is my take:
The use of "would rather" is not restricted by time. In certain aspects, it contains a conditional element as well.
Here is some info. Hope that helps your question.

Rather than and would rather

Rather than is normally used in parallel structures: for example with two adjectives, adverbs, nouns, infinitives or -ing forms. When the main clause has a to-infinitive, rather than is normally followed by an infinitive without to. An -ing form is also possible.

I would prefer to leave now rather than wait.
You ought to admit your crime rather than defend it.
I would prefer to go in August rather than in July.
I decided to write rather than phone/phoning. (NOT â¦than to phone)
Would rather
Would rather means 'would prefer to'. It is followed by an infinitive without to.

Would you rather stay here or go home? (=Would you prefer to stay here or go home.)
Would rather + subject + past tense
We can use would rather to say that one person would prefer another or others to do something. We use a special structure with a past tense.

Donât come today, I would rather you came tomorrow. (=I would prefer you to come tomorrow.)
I would rather you posted this letter. (= I would like you to post this letter.)

To talk about past actions, a past perfect tense is possible

<EDITED by mod to credit your source.>

Re: Is "There is the ..." an exceptional use?

jazzmaster — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:27:58 GMT

CalifJim

Probably not. There may be a better way to finesse this with a different wording.
Yes, but from the viewpoint of the authors and the teacher, this may be considered a harmless "white lie".
Out of curiosity, does the book actually use the words, "serious grammatical error"? Or is that your impressionistic paraphrase?

Thanks CJ

"Serious grammatical error" is my paraphrase. But when and if ESL students start to expressly state "this IS an exceptional usage", I suppose that means "these is a set rule on this and no one can break that in any shape or form".

"the simplification of the grammar at the beginning makes it much easier for them to navigate the language with confidence in the beginning stages" ... I fully concur with your view here. This indeed is the ideal way of teaching something to someone, I would say. However, the reality is that they will soon start feeding what a SVOC is, along with modifier/qualifier, the difference between a relative pronoun and adverb and all that good stuff to students who even cannot pronounce the word "English" correctly yet. I have an impression that they do present "grammatically acceptable" sentence structures, rock-solid rules and what not all at once. It is not a fun way to learn a foreign language. That is why some students grow not to like the subject after short while.

Let's say you are in a store with a hardcore grammatical ESL student, and you say:
*&@!#% !! I just realized I left my wallet home!!
... in stead of saying "It's all right, CJ, here, take $100. You can pay me back tomorrow.", (granting that he/she understood what you said), the ESL student will be too busy thinking "Why did he not say "I HAD left my wallet"? Because he is describing an event that happened obviously prior to the moment "he realized", it should be the past perfect tense, thus "I HAD left". It could be an exceptional use of the "realize ... that ...." structure but I am not sure. Or should I just point out his grammatical mistake?" ... this is the mentality of students who are being taught by those hardcore grammar books, and I am not exaggertating even a bit.

Thanks.

Re: "If I were" in past

Huevos — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:59:48 GMT

nene4english
Do you mean this sentence correct is correct if the conclusion is also in the past?

It's just a standard type 3 conditional. This expresses a hypothesis on what would have happened if the "if" clause, which is no longer possible to fulfil, had been fulfilled. It is formed as follows: if + pronoun + past perfect clause + pronoun + would + perfect infinitive clause.

Re: have got

Skrej — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:52:03 GMT

Hahah, you two make me laugh with these posts.

Yoong, all your emoticons and hyper-links work fine for me. I can click on your links and it brings up the post, just like it's supposed to.

About contractions: It depends upon what kind of contraction. Personal pronoun contractions can be used with everything except the simple present, simple past, and past continuous, including most present forms, and all the future forms. They won't work with the simple past, but they can work with the past perfect, and past perfect continuous. However, they can be a bit ambiguous, so you need to write your sentences so they're clear, or write them out to avoid any confusing cases. Also, contractions are viewed as informal, so be aware of the situation you're writing for, when deciding whether or not to use them.

I'd studied acting before moving to New York. (past. perf.)

You weren't studying? (past cont. but -it's not a personal pronoun contraction.)

You'd been studying when she called. (past. perf. cont.)

I'll do it in a minute( simple future)
I'll have finished it by the time you get home. (future perf.)

However:

He's tired. (Unclear- Is it "He is tired" (simple present), or "He has tired" (pres. perf.)

Re: "Impurities"

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:57:38 GMT

Hi Goodman,

Well, I understood that in fact there isn't an exact grammatic explanation why we use "It's" with plural nouns, isn't it? Is it the same as to ask for example, why the simple past and past perfect of the verb to cut is : cut - cut. Am I wrong?

So, when you say "It's the artificial ingredients in the foods.." We have to understand the meaning of "it's" as being in plural, in spite of writing it in the singular form, don't we?

Thanks again,

Saadi

Re: help me check my para

Grammar Geek — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:37:20 GMT

Anonymous
The Indian hockey team? system? needs a noun had plunged into the pit of despairs. The administration had reared its ugly head in early 90~~â~~s and from that time it was or has been? ~~. Since then itâs~~ more like a dictator ruling the sports federation rather than a federation not sure what you mean by this. We need to get away from this. The ~~, the~~ president needs to resign & and the reins of the federation should be handed over to a sports person who understands the nitty-gritty ~~knit and gritty~~ of the game

Your tenses are off. You use past perfect, which says something else happened after that, but still in the past. Do you mean they ARE in despair, or that they WERE in despair?

Re: participial construction

Hoa Thai — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 06:38:40 GMT

Hi,

1) As the letter was written in French, I couldn't read it.

If we interpret the word As to mean because, we establish that letter had been written before it was read. Therefore, there is no need to use the past perfect tense.

However, please note that as could also mean at the same time, so be careful. For example, the following sentence is ambiguous because we don't quite know how to decipher its intended meaning (i.e., time related or because):

As Tom reached for the dish, the dog bit him.

2) Because it had been written in French, I couldn't read the letter.

In terms of using an appropriate verb tense, this sentence is fine too. Some people would not mind using the pronoun before its associated noun, but I would reword it as follows:

Because the letter had been written in French, I couldn't read it.

(Unknown 22884)OHHH I FINALLY CAN POST!!!

Jen001 — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 01:51:40 GMT

"The Change of the Characteristics in the passage from The Hours"

The passage from the novel The Hours by Michael Cunningham is intriguing. The passage illustrates the difference between the character's characteristics in different time settings: past and present. This difference is clearly shown through the contrasting structure, imagery and language.

The structure reflects the division of the time setting and helps to contrast the different characteristics. The passage has two paragraphs, each describing the character's thoughts and perception about a same place, of the past and present. The length of each paragraph is different; the one from the past is much longer than the other one from the present. This can be related to each of the paragraph's sentence construction. In the first paragraph, about the past, the lengths of the sentences are very long. The first sentence takes eight lines, lengthened continuously within commas, semi-colons and colons. In fact, in one sentence, there are five commas, five semi-colons and a colon. This overly-continued sentence gives a sense of unfiltered, informal, and unrestricted flowing of thoughts. Moreover, the use of brackets, âsome sort of wood(cedar? Camphor?),â seems to be less sophisticated, compared to using dashes or other punctuations of the same function. However, in the second paragraph of the present, the sentence construction is shown contrastingly. The paragraph starts with a short simple sentence: âShe turns down Bleecker, goes up Thomson.â Also, in this paragraph, there are four sentences in six lines, and three of the four sentences are written in simple sentence, including the example above. Although there are a few commas in some of the sentences, there is no semi-colon, but only a colon in the last sentence. The colon is used in a very appropriate way, functioning to introduce the list of âthingsâ, such as âjewelryâ and âjackets.â Thus, within the brief and concise sentence construction, the character in the present appears to be more mature, filtered and sophisticated than in the past. However, as a result of that, the sense of youthful, unfiltered freedom cannot be found anymore in the present.

In addition to the structure, the contrasting imagery of each paragraph demonstrates further differences of the characteristic in the past and present. As both paragraphs are of the same setting, the image of the same place is described at each time. So, the consistent place makes the comparison between the two more distinctive and reliable. The imagery of the place is very vivid in the past, not only within the visual sense, but also within the auditory and olfactory senses, whereas that of the past only relies on the sense of sight. For example, in the past, âthe neighborhoodâ is depicted as âthe center of something new and wildâ in âthe city where the sound of guitars drifted all nightâ and âwhere the stores â¦ smelled the way â¦ Arab bazaars must smell.â This is detail, imaginative and lively, even the âArab bazaarsâ creates a somewhat mystical and adventurous atmosphere. This interesting and passionate depiction is being minimized in the present into three words: an âimitation of itself.â It is now âa watered-down carnival for tourists,â which gives a sense of inactivity and boredom. Also, the stores now âall sell essentially the same things,â such as âsouvenir T-shirts.â This seems to be dull, with no excitement or creativity or passion. This changed imagery, depicted by the character, rather shows the change in the character's perception. The change in perception is demonstrated more clearly within the notion of the âdoorâ and âalley.â In the past, she says, âif you passed through the wrong door or down the wrong alley you would meet a fate,â however, in the present, she âknows that behind these doors, and down these alleys lies nothing more or less than people living their lives.â In the past, she seems to be more concerned with the 'inner' world of thought or imagination. Whereas in the present, she seems to be more grounded in the external world of physical reality. As like the previously discussed change in the sentence structure, she is now more sophisticated, knowledgeable and realistic than the past. Also, as like the image of the place, her perception changed from the creative, interesting and adventurous to the boring, predictable and filtered way. Thus, the contrasting imagery of the past and present reflects the similar change in the character's perception.

While the structure and the imagery convey the distinctive change in the characteristics of the character, the contrasting use of language supports those differences. More specifically, the diction [dash]shown in the past and the present[dash] is comparable. Reflecting the imagery of the varied senses, the words and expressions used in the past are also varied and animated, such as âincense and richâ and âdung-y dustâ describing the smell of the stores. These two expressions, âincense and richâ and âdung-y dustâ are contrasting; they express the diversity of the object. Moreover, the speaker creates a non-existing adjective, âdung-y.â The extra adding of â-yâ grants a more animated image, and it gives a sense of freedom and even somewhat childishness. The âsmellâ is then described as âsomething fruitily, fertilely rotting.â Again, she creates a non-existing adverb, âfruitily,â expressing the scent rather vividly, which would be sour as it ârots.â The other adverb âfertilelyâ contributes to create a sense of abundance and richness of the imagery. However, the use of those two positive adverbs, modifying the negative verb ârottingâ seems to be oxymoron in âfruit[full]â or âfertile,â as well as the use of adjective âdisreputable,â following ânew and wild.â The oxymoron adds an unpredictable sense to the imagery and hence to the depicter's thoughts. On the other hand, in the present, the adjectives used to describe the âcityâ and the âstores,â are ânothing,â âless,â âsame,â and âstill.â All of them are negative and reflect the boredom, dullness and hopelessness. More significantly, the speaker uses the adverb, âGrotesquelyâ before describing how âthe same bars and coffeehouses are still [th]ereâ, showing the character's cynical characteristic. So does the use of the adjective âcheapâ for the goods at the stores. Thus, in the past, the character uses language interestingly [dash] it is diverse, lively and creative [dash] whereas that of the past is inactive, hopeless and cynical. These differences are directly reflecting the character's contrasting, changed characteristic.

The change of the characteristic seems to be abrupt. As a cause, something would have happened to her, that is not shown in the passage. However, an assumption can be drawn within the evidences from the passage. There is a shift in the first paragraph within âHere,â showing the shifted tense from the past to the past perfect. In the past perfect, there is a scene of Clarissa, the major character, and her boyfriend Richard. She seems to appreciate Richard a lot, for example, she does not use the pronoun 'he' for âRichard,â even though he is the only male character. So, in a sentence, Richard is successively repeated three times, âwith Richard, when Richard â¦ when Richard.â Moreover, she describes his appearance in detail; he âwas nineteen,â âa firm-featured, hard-eyed, not-quite-beautiful dark-haired boy with an impossibly long and graceful, very pale neck.â So, to describe Richard, she combines an adjective and a noun to create a single adjective, such as âhard-eyed.â This shows her seriousness about describing him precisely. His âimpossibly longâ and âvery paleâ neck would seem negative, if not for the complementary adjective âgraceful.â Also, the adverb âimpossiblyâ gives a sense of special and unusual feeling for the person. Besides the use of language, the use of punctuation should also be noted. There are many commas, causing the sentences to seem choppy. This would be imitating the feeling of uncertainty and the tension in the situation. The uncertainty of the situation is shown in the line, ââ¦about what? A kiss? Had Richard kissed her, or had she, Clarissaâ¦,â also the tension created as they âhad certainly argued.â Then, the reason for the âargu[ment]â is explained: âClarissa wanted her freedom and Richard wanted, well, too much.â It is notable that as Richard âwanted â¦ too muchâ relating to the âkiss,â the pronoun 'he' is used as âdidn't he always?â In this case, however, the pronoun 'he' seems to more likely indicate every 'man', rather than particularly âRichard.â Thereafter the paragraph ends, and the paragraph of the present starts. It is not sure whether the abrupt change in Clarissa's characteristic is due to âRichardâ or not. Although it is not, it is evident that Clarissa once considered and cared about him quite specially.

Despite of the uncertain reason, the change in the Clarissa's characteristic from the past to the present is shown clearly throughout the contrasting structure, imagery and language. The characteristic includes the thoughts and perception, which were unrestricted, unfiltered, creative and animated in the past; whereas in the present, they are shown restricted, filtered, dull and inactive. The change is extreme, but no particular evidence for the extremity is being suggested, except the short scene with Richard. Thus, this passage not only introduces the setting and the character, but also evokes the reader's curiosity: What has happened to Clarissa?

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I really really really appreciate for your help... Thank you..!

Re: verbs, nouns....-1

Yankee — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:46:28 GMT

Solomon_13000 wrote:
Verb

All the furniture is my fatherâs study room ~~are~~ is made of oak.

They are responsible for handling the money

Those are spoiled apples

Matt forgot that he had invited some friends to dinner yesterday. OK

I had invited all the neighbors for my birthday party tomorrow. There is nothing in your sentence that justifies the use of the past perfect. The present perfect ('have invited') or past simple ('invited') would be OK.

We had invited a lot of people today There is nothing in your sentence that justifies the use of the past perfect. The present perfect ('have invited') or past simple ('invited') would be OK.