Search results for 'tag:Present progressive tag:Past tenses' matching tags 'Present progressive' and 'Past tenses'

Re: What is the suitable tense for the minutes of meeting?

Avangi — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:20:04 GMT

sebayanpendam
"The chairman of the building committee reported that bids will be let on the new construction in January." You tell what happened in the meeting. The chairman gave his report. PAST TENSE. What did he report? He reported that progress is being made. PRESENT PROGRESSIVE TENSE. He reported that the building will be completed in 2010. SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE.
Can you explain why the tenses are mixed in these sentences e.g.he reported that the progress is being made, he reported that the building will be completed in 2010? Why not just use the past tense?

I'd describe the secretary's use of other than past tenses in these three cases as "discretionary." Would be let; was being made; would be completed, are all fine.

For practical purposes, the secretary may view his work as a record for posterity, or he may be thinking in terms of how the minutes of the meeting will be used (or will sound) when they are reviewed at the following meeting a month hence. At that time, the projected events may well be still in the future.

Perhaps you should seek more professional advice. My "secretary" experience has been somewhat informal.

(I'll try to catch up on your previous post, if no one beats me to it.) - A.

Re: What is the suitable tense for the minutes of meeting?

sebayanpendam — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:26:53 GMT

hello,

"The chairman of the building committee reported that bids will be let on the new construction in January." You tell what happened in the meeting. The chairman gave his report. PAST TENSE. What did he report? He reported that progress is being made. PRESENT PROGRESSIVE TENSE. He reported that the building will be completed in 2010. SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE.

Can you explain why the tenses are mixed in these sentences e.g.he reported that the progress is being made, he reported that the building will be completed in 2010? Why not just use the past tense?

Thanks.

Re: subject of subordinate clause

Avangi — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 23:03:44 GMT

#1 John who took my pen is here.

#2 John who is wearing my jacket is here.

How firm a grasp would you like to obtain? (I know I shouldn't have written that, but I couldn't resist.)

The thing that works for me is to take out the the subject and the "verb" and see if it still makes sense. (That may even be the "rule.")

The reason it works in #2 and not in #1 is the difference in tenses and in verb forms. In "who took my pen" vs "who is wearing my jacket" "who" is the subject in each case, so that's not the difference. (If you took out "who," what would you propose for the subject? Without a subject you have no clause. You might think to claim "John" as the subject, but it can't be the subject of both clauses. You could use a compound predicate: "John is wearing my jacket and is here." )

Notice that in #2 both clauses are present tense. The verb is actually "is wearing," present progressive of "to wear." So you don't actually take out the verb - only the helping verb "is," which leaves you with the present participle, "wearing." You now have a participial phrase, "wearing my jacket," which is just fine. He's wearing it now and he's here now.

In #1, there's no helping verb to take out. You could take out the "who," leaving you with a compound predicate, but you'd need to add a conjunction. "John took my pen and is here." (The two different tenses work, but "is here" is no longer the dominant idea.)

If the original were, "John, who is taking my pulse, is Russian," then it works like #2. "John, taking my pulse, is Russian."

If you use two different tenses, as in the original #1, you'd have, "John, who was taking my pulse, is Russian." That leads to, "John, taking my pulse, is Russian." What happened to your past tense?

So try it, and ask yourself if the meaning is still the same.

Best wishes, - A.

Re: I regret saying that I hate/hated you.

Avangi — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:06:58 GMT

Angliholic wrote:
I regret saying that I hate you.
I regret saying that I hated you.

I regret to say that I hate you.

I regret to say that I hated you.

Which of the above four versions sound right to you? Which ones are identical in meaning? Thanks.

Hi Angliholic,

I regret to say I'd probably use only the first one. There's no reason to put "hate" in the past tense, unless there's some contextual evidence that I had stopped hating you at the time I said it. It's quite messy, because there's the time of the hating, the time of the saying, and the time of the regretting.

The main verb regret is simple present tense in all four examples. If you said, "I enjoy saying that I hate you," it would be much easier. It would have the flavor of present progressive simply because of the context - like, "I'm enjoying saying that I hate you." "I enjoy saying that I hated you," would have a very clear meaning.

Pucca is probably right about "saying" vs "to say." I personally would use the present participle with the verb (I regret saying) and save the infinitive for the adjective (I'm sorry to say.) But I know people say, "I regret to say that I hated you," meaning, "I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but I used to hate you," as Pucca suggests.

- A.

How many tenses are there in English language?

Jackson6612 — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:03:33 GMT

I was told that there are twelve tenses in English:

1: Simple Present Tense

2: Present Perfect Tense

3: Present Progressive Tense

4: Present Perfect Progressive Tense

5: Simple Past Tense

6: Past Perfect Tense

7: Past Progressive Tense

8: Past Perfect Progressive Tense

9: Simple Future Tense

10: Future Perfect Tense

11: Future Progressive Tense

12: Future Perfect Progressive Tense

But I read somewhere that total number of tenses in English is six or seven. Is this true?

Re: Present Perfect vs Present Perfect Progressive

Goodman — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 20:08:03 GMT

Matt0915 wrote:

3. Why is, I have been watching my neighbor dig a hole all day in Present Progressive, BUT I watched my neighbor dig a hole all day yesterday not in Past Progressive?

I have been watching my neighbor dig a hole all day is Present Progressive because it states the neighbor is talking about the present day and it is progressive because he is watching, meaning that it is currently happening.

Ex. if you say that you drove home from work then it can be assumed that you have already have gotten home. But if you say that you were driving home from work then that would mean you are currently doing that.

I watched is not progressive, progressive end in -ing.

therefore, the sentence isn't past progressive, but saying something like, I had been watching my neighbor dig a hole all day yesterday would be past progressive!

Hope this helps!

Matt,

I certainly can appreciate the difficulty in recognizing when and what tenses, and voice to use within a given context. This is a common hurdle ESL students have to overcome. In your argument, you said âI had been watching my neighbor dig a hole all day yesterday would be past progressive!â. Itâs somewhat true but not entirely. The key is âyesterdayâ. Had the statement been âI had been watching my neighbor building their own swimming pool for the past 6 months and finally they are swimming in itâ, then âhad beenâ is properly used.

In reference to the previous sentences: âI have been watching my neighbor dig a hole all day â The context suggests that the day was not over. If this statement was made at 6 pm at the dinner table with your family, itâs entirely correct. The logical explanation for the next sentence âI watched my neighbor dig a hole all day yesterday not in Past Progressive?â is that both acts of âwatchâ and â digâ were completed yesterday. The key is how the context was constructed. You watched for as long as they digged and the actions were completed. so a simple past tense is also correctly used. Unfortunately, the grammar rules live within the context which makes explaning rather difficult.

Re: I wonder vs I was wondering

Clive — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 17:05:14 GMT

Hi again,

In #2, why is past progressive used?

A salesclerk asks if she can help me.

I want to look at sweaters is rather direct, rather strong.

I wanted to look at sweaters is less direct, less strong, because the use of the past tense provides 'distance' to the request. It's sort of like, 'I had this want in the past, but if it is a lot of trouble for you to help me, I may not have this want now'.

The use of progressive further reduces the directness of the simple tense.

Can't present progressive be used instead? It could, but more commonly simple present would be used.

Google gives 'I am wondering' 5 million hits, 'I wonder' 81 million hits

Best wishes, Clive

Re: simple present and simple progressive tenses

Daxiaoaixad — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 22:24:02 GMT

Hi Goodman,

I got your answer. So the time is very important. If it indicates the furture, one should use present progressive instead of present simple. But what about the sentence:

The plan leaves for india tomorrow.

?

Goodman wrote:

Hi Dax,

As the others already pointed out, the time reference dictates how the sentenece should be contructed. That said, I took the liberty to revised your questions.

* Do you enjoy this exercise? It makes more sense to use "did". If the question is "do you enjoy exercicing?" then it's fine. But the way it's formed, is not quiet correct because of the tense. THe pperson has to finish the excercise before he could answer your question, right? If so should it be past tense?

* What do you do this evening? The context implies future. So to improve the sentence, I'd say "what are you doing this evening?".
* I look forward to receiving your reply? Acceptable, but technically, it should be " I am looking forward to receiving your reply". Again, it implies future.
* When do you come back from your vacation? Again, this sentence carries a notion of the future. I'd change it to " when are you coming back" or "when will you be coming back" from vacation?

Re: a simple grammar problem....

Peano — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 19:14:05 GMT

>"my dad said he is going to work tomorrow" or "my dad said he was going to work tomorrow."

I don't agree that was is correct. The past tense said in this sentence refers to the time the man spoke. The present progressive is going is used in the sense of the future tense and refers to the time the intended action will be performed.

Consider it this way: To express his intention of going to work tomorrow, he would not say I was going to work tomorrow. He would say I am going to work tomorrow.

In accurately reporting what was said, you must preserve the future sense of am going: My dad said he is going to work ....

See Garner: "When a subordinate clause states an ongoing or general truth, it should be in the present tense regardless of the tense in the principal clause -- thus He said yesterday that he is Jewish, not He said yesterday that he was Jewish.

Re: Present Perfect vs. Present Simple, once again

paco2004 — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 19:57:45 GMT

Hello Astraea

I too am a learner of English, but let me answer to your question.

Are you asking if the sentences like below are correct?
       I write a letter now.
       I just finish my assignment.
No, both are incorrect. ~~Do you ask why?~~ Are you asking why? It's because "write" and "finish" are dynamic verbs. You can say "I live now in Zagreb", because "live" is a stative verb. But in the case when the verb is dynamic, the simple present tense can be used only when you talk about some habitual activity. For example,
        I write a letter to my mother once a week.
        Every week I finish my assignment before Friday night.
If you want to say some one-time event using a dynamic verb, you have to say it in [1] the past tense, [2] the present perfect tense, [3] the present progressive tense, [4] or the future tense.
        [1] I wrote a letter to my mother yesterday.
        [2] I have written a letter to my mother now.
        [3] I am now writing a letter to my mother.
        [4] I will write a letter to my mother tomorrow.

paco