Search results for 'tag:Present tenses tag:Images' matching tags 'Present tenses' and 'Images'

Re: correct sentences 24/11

Teo — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:09:54 GMT

They won't smoke ever since they saw a film on lung cancer.

What does "won't" mean here?

Re: correct sentences 24/11

Teo — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:09:49 GMT

http://forums.eslcafe.com/student/viewtopic.php?t=22113&highlight=

Re: wish clauses

Goodman — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:52:34 GMT

Yoong Liat wrote:
Hi Goodman

You wrote: I have been labeled and called by many descriptions, hinted being âIgnorantâ is the first ...

I'm not hinting that you're ignorant. I say that if a learner tells me "informal" means "wrong", I'll understand that he says so because he is ignorant. But you are not a learner. You're one of the members who have a good command of English. So that's why I say it's not correct for you to say that a usage, which is classified as "informal", is wrong.

I've reproduced below what Michael Swan has to say about "I wish I was ... " and "I wish it wasn't ..." and let the members decide whether you're right to say "I wish it was not raining" or "I wish it wasn't raining" is a wrong usage.

We can use 'wish' to express regrets - to say that we would like things to be different. We use a past tense with a present meaning in this case.
I wish I was better-looking.
I wish it wasn't raining.

In a formal style, we can use 'were' instead of 'was' after 'I wish'.
I wish I were better-looking.

(Basic English Usage by Michael Swan)

Best wishes.

Liat,

With our differences in point of view, I appreciate your reply. For all intents and an purposes, I am still a learner on a different level but I perhaps have the advantage being in a completely English environment and therefore, I may appear to have better command. That said, I do feel there is a certain slight inconsistency among all the different English websites, particularly on the subjunctive. There should not be any argument that âIf I wereâ or âI wish I wereâ is a subjunctive mood. The difference of the agruement really lies in the defining of the rules and the mood expressed in the senstence. The early website quoted âI wish I wasâ as informal.

In reality, after reading this article, that is indeed incorrect. The bottom line, " I wish I was" is against the subjunctive ruels. Take a look at the explanation on this website then you may come to agree with what I said in my earlier threads.

Confusingly enough, in the "self test", some of of the answers are considered "acceptable" or "informal" by some. I should hope that this piece will settle all questions about indicative and subjunctive moods.

Subjunctive Mood

However, if a form of the verb to be were used in that sentence, all polished writers would agree that the subjunctive is necessary: "If he were [not was] ...
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	Writing Tip: July 30, 2001 The Subjunctive Mood Examine the verbs in each of the following sentences: 1. If Harrison were chosen to be the next chief executive officer of the corporation, several controversial hiring practices would change. 2. If I were you, I would increase my weekly contribution to the company-sponsored retirement fund. 3. I wish that his report were longer. 4. We recommend that the trip be postponed because of violence in the region. 5. The finance department requests that he submit updated budget projections each month. All the above sentences are correct. Two terms apply to the mood of English verbs: indicative and subjunctive. An indicative verb makes a statement that is factual, whereas a verb in the subjunctive mood is used to indicate a situation or condition that is hypothetical, doubtful, or conditional. In the indicative mood, we would never write "Harrison were," "I were," "report were," "trip be," or "he submit," but these verbs are correct in the examples above because each of the sentences is written in the subjunctive mood; that is, in every case, the sentence is describing a situation that is hypothetical or conditional: 1. Harrison is not now the C.E.O., but hypothetically he could be chosen for that position. The conditional nature of the position is suggested by the word if. 2. Again, as the word if makes clear, I am not, in fact, you. So once again the situation is hypothetical and conditional: I would save more only under the condition that I became you. 3. His report is not, in fact, longer, so the sentence speaks of a hypothetical situation. 4. The trip is not currently postponed, so the subjunctive mood is appropriate to suggest a possibility, not an actuality. 5. He is not currently submitting reports monthly, so we use the subjunctive mood to discuss the possibility--not the actuality--of his doing so. For all verbs except to be, the present subjunctive mood is most often made by omitting the characteristic s ending on verbs with third-person singular subjects. Thus, whereas in the indicative mood we would write "man leaves," in the subjunctive mood we would omit the s on the verb leave: "The judge insisted that the man not leave town." For the verb to be, we simply use be for all present tense subjunctive mood verbs and were for all past tense forms, regardless of whether the subject is singular or plural. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (New York: MJF Books, 1993) points out that while many subjunctive-mood phrases are commonly used in ordinary speech--"if I were you," "if need be," "far be it from me," and so on--strict use of the subjunctive mood is rare, even in the most formal speaking and writing situations (243). Very few people would write, for example, "If he arrive on time, we will have dinner before the show." However, if a form of the verb to be were used in that sentence, all polished writers would agree that the subjunctive is necessary: "If he were [not was] to arrive on time, we could have dinner before the show." The Harbrace College Handbook (13th edition) lists other common, fixed expressions that are stated in the subjunctive mood: "so be it," "be that as it may," "as it were," and "God bless you" (99-100). TEST YOURSELF Which of the following sentences need verbs in the subjunctive mood? 1. If I was Sam, I would hire an assistant now before the hiring freeze takes effect. 2. The committee suggested that Dr. Jones is chosen as the next chief of staff. 3. As August approaches, every school child wishes that his or her vacation was longer. 4. It is critical that every potential donor gives blood during this shortage. ANSWERS 1. If I WERE Sam, I would hire an assistant now before the hiring freeze takes effect. 2. The committee suggested that Dr. Jones BE chosen as the next chief of staff. 3. As August approaches, every school child wishes that his or her vacation WERE longer. This is almost the exact sentence identified as correct in your past post. 4. It is critical that every potential donor GIVE blood during this shortage. Copyright 2001 Get It Write More Tips \| Tell a Friend *Special Request:* Please share these tips with friends and colleagues and encourage them to subscribe. (If you post the tips to an internal distribution list of any size, please tell us the nature of the list and the number of subscribers. We would like to know how many people we are reaching with this service. We appreciate your positive feedback and excellent comments!)

Re: "shall" and "will" for 18th century readers: interchangeable?

Intelligent Freak — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:43:23 GMT

Ok, I got it but I don't know how to put the link here so i'll just paste the context here. This was given by CalifJim as response to the subject "Conditional with Modal Verbs"...

Strictly speaking, the modals are not tensed. However, they developed historically from tensed verbs. Each group below shows a "historical present / past" pair.

can / could
shall / should
will / would
may / might
must - not paired

In modern English, any of these can be used in a single clause sentence, but when it occurs in just one of two or more clauses in the same sentence, it needs to be matched correctly with the tense in the other clause.

Typically, when the accompanying clause is an "if" clause, the historical present tense forms go with present tense verbs, and historical past tense forms go with past tense verbs. However, "could" and "might", meaning "may" ("it is possible"), can be used with present tense verbs (as well as with past tense verbs). "should" has lost most of its force as a past tense and is better thought of as a present tense form in modern English, meaning "it is advisable". ("shall" is the least used of the modals shown above.) The result of all these historical changes is that in modern English we have far more choices in sentences with a present point of view than in those with a past point of view.

With this in mind we have:

If she has [present] time, she [can, could, (shall), should, will, may, might, must] go to the party. [not "would']

If she had [past] time, she [could, would, might] go to the party. [not "should"]

For reported speech we have the pairs:

He says that he [can, could, (shall), should, will, would, may, might, must] go to the party.

He said that he [could, could, (shall), should, would, would, might, might, must] go to the party.

Note how "can", "will", and "may" are restricted to the present, and the corresponding forms "could", "would", and "might" are used to report "can" or "could", "will" or "would", or "may" or "might" in the past.

CJ

To Wuthering Heights , I hope I was able to help.

Re: Present tense simple vs. continuous

Grammar Geek — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 17:11:47 GMT

Hi Sonja, and welcome to the forums. I answered with this in the other post you made on the same topic. For future reference, if you ever forget to sign on and make a post, you just have a wait a bit for it to appear. Please don't sign in and then post the same question, or you'll have different people answering the same question in different threads, like what happened here. (Meanwhile, I'm deleting the other, anonymous thread on the same question.)

Anyway, here's what I said before I knew anyone else had already answered:

Hi Sonja,

My gut feeling is the same as yours. I have written many, many business letters using U.S.-style, and I would write "I am enclosing" and "We are returning." The only exception would be when you are explaining an on-going process, but not the immediate action that is the purpose of the letter.

Re: lie/lay

Goodman — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 22:07:41 GMT

Anonymous wrote:
I realized how exhausted I was, and how little I was looking forward to what LAY ahead. Is this correct? What should this be? Thanks!

Hope this article helps .....

LANGUAGE CORNER
Lie, Lay, and All That

Lie This to Rest?

BY EVAN JENKINS

No, of course not. But the confusion between "lie" and "lay" was different and subtler in the following passage, which said someone who maneuvered for a job too overtly "did not do what a shrewd operator would do and lay low, but openly threw himself into the matter."

Someone was thinking of the expression "to lie low," meaning to hunker down, make oneself inconspicuous. Introduced by "did not," as it was in the example, the verb required the present tense: the job candidate "did not ... lie low." "Lay" is the past tense of "lie" â she lay low for awhile. The past perfect tense is "lain" â until that day, she had lain low.

Lie, lay, lain.

"To lie" means to rest, be at rest, repose, or just exist on or in some place ("the fault lies with the captain, not the crew") or in some condition or position (lie low, lie down). Probably because its past tense is "lay," the word is often confused with ...

... "To lay," meaning to put or place something somewhere (including to bring forth an egg). It takes an object â lay that pistol down, babe â and no form of "to lie" does. (Well, "lie your heart out," but that's another "lie.") .) The past tense of "lay" is "laid," and so is its past perfect tense.

Lay, laid, laid.

Despite some nay-sayers, the failure to distinguish between "lie" and "lay" is widely considered illiterate. And yet the failure is surprisingly common. Is the only answer rote memorization? Seems so, but anyone with a mnemonic trick that has helped avoid the confusion is welcome to send it along.

Re: Toam Ceramic Park

Clive — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 05:01:07 GMT

Hi,

I went to a ceramic park yesterday. There are a lot of loess dolls at the park. Idon't know what a ceramic park is, nor what a loess doll is. Did you spell 'loess' correctly?

I wrote about them. Could you read and correct them for me? Thank you very much. OK, I'll try.

I've suggested various changes. Please read carefully. I assume that Toam is still alive, so you can use present tense. If he died, use past tense about him.

I enjoyed reading this, you write with simple, clear thoughts.

Best wishes, Clive

We can encounter singing clay dolls everywhere at Toam Ceramic Park. Toam Seo Taweon, whose pen name is Toam, made all of them. We call a clay doll âTouâ. He describes his Tous like this.

âI donât want to hear, so I have no ears.

I donât want to think so I have an empty head.

I will just sing a song. â

He was diagnosed with cancer in 1997. He rejected treatment and surgery , but fights against cancer in his own way, making these Tous. He expressesd his mind through the singing Tous with absentmindedness <<< I don't understand your meaning here Tous without ears, empty Tous.

I found a green smiling Tou among them. It has stood on the same spot for a long time, and has become part of nature. Its face is covered by green moss. It still sings with a green smile.

the contestants deserved it

Teo — Sat, 27 May 2006 13:15:32 GMT

Do you think the Singapore Idol judges are being mean to the contestants?

Yes, they are trying too hard to imitate Simon Cowell	46%	1577 votes
Maybe, but the contestants deserved it	22%	754 votes
Not at all, this is show business	32%	1093 votes

Why not use the present tense, "the contestants deserve it"?



GIW Home		writeDate(); Mon Oct. 8, 2007 \| Tell a Friend \| Subscribe \| Order Our Book
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	Writing Tip: July 30, 2001 The Subjunctive Mood Examine the verbs in each of the following sentences: 1. If Harrison were chosen to be the next chief executive officer of the corporation, several controversial hiring practices would change. 2. If I were you, I would increase my weekly contribution to the company-sponsored retirement fund. 3. I wish that his report were longer. 4. We recommend that the trip be postponed because of violence in the region. 5. The finance department requests that he submit updated budget projections each month. All the above sentences are correct. Two terms apply to the mood of English verbs: indicative and subjunctive. An indicative verb makes a statement that is factual, whereas a verb in the subjunctive mood is used to indicate a situation or condition that is hypothetical, doubtful, or conditional. In the indicative mood, we would never write "Harrison were," "I were," "report were," "trip be," or "he submit," but these verbs are correct in the examples above because each of the sentences is written in the subjunctive mood; that is, in every case, the sentence is describing a situation that is hypothetical or conditional: 1. Harrison is not now the C.E.O., but hypothetically he could be chosen for that position. The conditional nature of the position is suggested by the word if. 2. Again, as the word if makes clear, I am not, in fact, you. So once again the situation is hypothetical and conditional: I would save more only under the condition that I became you. 3. His report is not, in fact, longer, so the sentence speaks of a hypothetical situation. 4. The trip is not currently postponed, so the subjunctive mood is appropriate to suggest a possibility, not an actuality. 5. He is not currently submitting reports monthly, so we use the subjunctive mood to discuss the possibility--not the actuality--of his doing so. For all verbs except to be, the present subjunctive mood is most often made by omitting the characteristic s ending on verbs with third-person singular subjects. Thus, whereas in the indicative mood we would write "man leaves," in the subjunctive mood we would omit the s on the verb leave: "The judge insisted that the man not leave town." For the verb to be, we simply use be for all present tense subjunctive mood verbs and were for all past tense forms, regardless of whether the subject is singular or plural. The Columbia Guide to Standard American English (New York: MJF Books, 1993) points out that while many subjunctive-mood phrases are commonly used in ordinary speech--"if I were you," "if need be," "far be it from me," and so on--strict use of the subjunctive mood is rare, even in the most formal speaking and writing situations (243). Very few people would write, for example, "If he arrive on time, we will have dinner before the show." However, if a form of the verb to be were used in that sentence, all polished writers would agree that the subjunctive is necessary: "If he were [not was] to arrive on time, we could have dinner before the show." The Harbrace College Handbook (13th edition) lists other common, fixed expressions that are stated in the subjunctive mood: "so be it," "be that as it may," "as it were," and "God bless you" (99-100). TEST YOURSELF Which of the following sentences need verbs in the subjunctive mood? 1. If I was Sam, I would hire an assistant now before the hiring freeze takes effect. 2. The committee suggested that Dr. Jones is chosen as the next chief of staff. 3. As August approaches, every school child wishes that his or her vacation was longer. 4. It is critical that every potential donor gives blood during this shortage. ANSWERS 1. If I WERE Sam, I would hire an assistant now before the hiring freeze takes effect. 2. The committee suggested that Dr. Jones BE chosen as the next chief of staff. 3. As August approaches, every school child wishes that his or her vacation WERE longer. This is almost the exact sentence identified as correct in your past post. 4. It is critical that every potential donor GIVE blood during this shortage. Copyright 2001 Get It Write More Tips \| Tell a Friend *Special Request:* Please share these tips with friends and colleagues and encourage them to subscribe. (If you post the tips to an internal distribution list of any size, please tell us the nature of the list and the number of subscribers. We would like to know how many people we are reaching with this service. We appreciate your positive feedback and excellent comments!)

Search results for 'tag:Present tenses tag:Images' matching tags 'Present tenses' and 'Images'

Re: correct sentences 24/11

Re: correct sentences 24/11

Re: wish clauses

Re: "shall" and "will" for 18th century readers: interchangeable?

Re: Present tense simple vs. continuous

Re: lie/lay

LANGUAGE CORNERLie, Lay, and All That

Lie This to Rest?

Lie, lay, lain.

Lay, laid, laid.

Re: Toam Ceramic Park

the contestants deserved it

LANGUAGE CORNER
Lie, Lay, and All That