In Present tenses^x, Grammar^x, Gerunds^x

Ellisa: This is a very long passage, and your other post seems to be even longer. The editor at this web site makes it difficult to make corrections to long passages. Also, many teachers do not want to devote a long time working on a single post. If you post only one paragraph at a time, then...

Just to clarify about the indefinite article: it's OK to say "stores and restaurants see sharp decline in sales" without the article when using the present tense; in fact it has the ring of a newspaper headline. On the other hand when using the gerund not using the article in this...

Inchoateknowledge wrote:What does (simple) future tense mean in this sentence? The grammarian (it is a grammarian, isn't it?) you're quoting would probably tell you that there is no future tense. Many linguists claim English has only two tenses: Past and Non-past (sometimes called present)....

I agree with you completely, Clive. Actually the analysis in terms of whether it's polite or impolite doesn't have much appeal to me. It can be either, depending on the context, IMO. I think your rule of thumb, or subconscious knowledge, really works, and the politeness is indeed a secondary...

English grammar seems to be full of exceptions more than rules. This is a vast topic that could easily fill a book (or two). Where would you like to start? Plurals, past tense, present tense, gerunds, infintives, articles...