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

Re: about tense

Clive — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:32:51 GMT

Hi,

I have a question about tense in this sentence below.

"My family has been in this rural village for generations,

so I never had to commute by crowded public transport."

The person " I " have no experience of commuting by crowded transport

until now. However, "had to" is the past tense.

Please teach me why "had " can be used in this case?

'I never had to commute . . . ' The use of the past tense suggests that the speaker no longer lives there at the present time.
eg "My family has been in this rural village for generations, so I never had to commute by crowded public transport until I moved to the big city where I live now."

'I have never had to commute . . . ' Use the Present Perfect to stress 'until now', ie this sounds like 'I' still live in the village.

Best wishes, Clive

about tense

momento — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:23:35 GMT

Re: In ''If I had any problem I would contact you'' past tense is used

Ant_222 — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:24:07 GMT

You're right. To make it a true past situation: Â«If I had had any problem I would have contacted youÂ», otherwise it's a time-less (still possible at the moment of speech) and hypothetical.

In ''If I had any problem I would contact you'' past tense is used

Jackson6612 — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:41:41 GMT

Had I any problem I would contact you. = If I had any problem I would contact you.

In If I had any problem I would contact you past tense is used. What is the reason for using past tense when the situation is not really in the past. I believe it's because the situation is just being imagined and past tense is used to present such as hypothetical situation. Am I correct?

was sure vs. thought

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:18:02 GMT

Hi,
I am going make some sentences using the subject-noted words:
Scenario: Two people are talking about the missing pen. One person thought the other took it since the other seemed to have been the only one in the room when the supposed disappearance of the pen occurred (at least that is what he thought). Then, later found out that the pen was stuck in his briefcase, making it hard to see.

A: I think you thought I stole your pen, didn't you?
B: I was sure that is/was the case since you were only one in the room at the time of disapperance, but later found out, the pen was stuck on the bottom of my briefcase -- it was my mistake; I should have looked inside of the briefcase more carefully. Sorry.

As far as I can see, every verb is in the past tense except the underlined part. I feel the underlined part could either be in the present or in the past; I think the verb could be in the present since the subject matter is currenly related to the discussion and to people on hand -- unlike the cases involving the use of "thought," which will make almost mandatory for the verbs to be in the past.

Why is that if two tenses are OK? being sure of something and thinking about something seem to be a very similar mental activity.

form of the past tense

eagerness — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 05:06:03 GMT

Is there any difference in the meaning between the following two sentences?

I didn't play smart enough, so that is why I ended up being at the bottom four or

I wasn't playing smart enough, so that is why I ended up being at the bottom four.

Since an English is not my native langauge, sometimes I am in dilemma as to which form of the past tense I should use.

Any help is greately appreciated.

Re: tense checking

Grammar Geek — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:10:20 GMT

I should have edited the post - they are clearly related, but the first three seemed unrelated to each other.

I broke them into each line so I could comment one by one.

I think the probable date I noted for his visit is one month from the day of writing

You wrote, "If I sleep one more day, I will be meeting my nephew who will be visiting us from the Phillipines." That sounds like he is coming tomorrow to me. How could I guess that it's actually another month away? You wrote that he's coming home "for a month vacation." It sounds like he's coming tomorrow, and staying for one month.

and I think I also have noted that the probable period of completion will last two months.What made you think the writing gives out an idea that I will try to finish the project in one day?

You said that he comes tomorrow, and you are starting today - so naturally that sounds like you'll do one month's worth of work in one day.

You changed the tense of the last sentence to present perfect; (semicolon OK?) but I don't think a past is wrong but a present tense is better because the choice made is current and currently related.

Yes, you made the decision quite recently. The present tense is appropriate. If you used the past, the entire thing should be written in a past tense, not the present.

Where did you want to use the semi-colon?

tense Present vs Past

sophianz — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:40:20 GMT

Hi. Please help me understand the sentence below.

Among the crimes for which Hitler bears direct responsibility was the attempt to exterminate the Jews.

Q1) Is it gramatically correct to use the present tense "bears" for Hitler, who does not exist any more?
I think that the past tense "bore" would be more appropriate.

Q2) If both are gramatically correct, what is the difference in meaning between "bears" and "bore"?

Hope your reply. Thanks.

Re: Structure of sentence

lisadove — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:21:33 GMT

16: is known as (passive structure; active form: We know Boston as the Hub...)

17. storing, erasing and retrieving (These are parallel and should be in the same form.)

18. Professor Andom Iyassou ("Professor" is a title. If Andom Iyassou is one person, "professor" must be singular.)

19. one mile high (height is a noun; high is an adjective)

20. a symbol (tree is singular and a is singular, so symbol should be singular)

21. as efficient as (the conventional structure for a comparison. "so efficient as" could be used as follows: The software is not so efficient as to make the previous version obsolete.)

22. I suspect you made a mistake in copying this item. I would guess (C) "for a great deal of their content on the majority of their pages."

23. very much alike. (alike is not a noun; only nouns can be preceded by the.)

24. in seconds (we use in with expressions of time: in a few days, in a million years, in about an hour.)

25. Boggs hit a grand slam (making is used in the first part because it's the object of the preposition after, so it must be in noun [gerund?] form. The main clause is "Wade Boggs hit [past tense] a grand slam for the Red Sox.")

I don't have time to do more; perhaps someone else will finish...

Re: California tax

Mister Micawber — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:13:06 GMT

.
It is the computer that is singular, not 'that'. However, the computer has already been bought and paid for. Cost is past tense.
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