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

Re: "whenever" and verb tenses following it

AlpheccaStars — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:09:04 GMT

Velimir:

Sorry I did not understand your question. Here are some comments on the verb tenses in your sentences

1a) Whenever you've sent us your goods, we have received your documents related to the delivery when the truck has already set off .

you've sent: You have sent is present perfect. It is used for an action in the past that is not finally complete yet.

we have received: present perfect. It is OK to combine present perfect tenses in one sentence.

You have sent us goods, and we have received the documents. (and we expect this pattern to continue in the present and future)

when the truck has already set off . (present perfect). Herein lies the problem. The time sequence of the events is difficult to understand. If you change "when" to "before or after", then it is a little bit clearer, because "before" and "after" are more explicit in comparing time sequences.

Whenever you've sent us your goods, we have received your documents related to the delivery after the truck has already set off .

Whenever you've sent us your goods, we have received your documents related to the delivery before the truck has already set off .

Whenever you've sent us your goods, we would receive your documents

This sequence of tenses is not grammatically correct. "would receive" is future relative to the time context. But with present perfect tense, the time context is not specific enough. The simple past is required, to establish a time reference point in the past. The correct form is -- > simple past / modal relative future

Whenever you sent us your goods, we would receive the documents

2a). Whenever you sent us your goods we received your documents related to the delivery after the truck had already set off.

Simple past is fine for the first 2 clauses.

Whenever you sent us your goods we received your documents

The problem comes with the past perfect in the last clause. This means an action completed at a time reference in the past, but there is no such time reference in the sentence. It can be fixed by adding a time reference, either one time, or an adverb making a specific time series. Also, "before" or "after" is needed to establish the sequence of events.

Last Tuesday, when you sent us your goods, we received the documents after the truck had been dispatched. (once, specific time; note that it is better to use the passive to relate the truck to "you". Active voice is better, still)

Last Tuesday, when you sent us your goods, we received the documents after you had dispatched the truck.

Every time that you sent us goods, we received the documents after the truck had been dispatched. (all the time)

In the past, more than 50 percent of the time that you sent us goods, we received the documents after the truck had been dispatched.

You can also use present tense to show a habitual pattern of activities:

Sometimes when you send us goods, we receive the documents after the truck has been dispatched.

When you send us goods, we always receive the documents after the truck has been dispatched.

Note the present perfect in the last clause to show that this action was already started before the time of "receiving the documents". This sequence - present / present / present perfect compares to past / past / past perfect pattern earlier.

2b) Whenever you sent us your goods we would receive your documents related to the delivery when the truck had already set off.

See above comments.

Active to passive voice

achu.j — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:51:48 GMT

Teacher, pls check whether my answers are correct, if wrong, please correct . This is about changing the sentenses from active to passive voice.

PRESENT TENSE

Everybody loves animals
Animals is loved by all

The teacher corrects our exercises
Our exercises are corrected by the teacher

The strong wind blows the trees down
Tthe trees are blown down by the string wind

Does the gardener water the plants everyday?
Is the plant watered everyday by the gardener?

Does she always help her husband?
Is her husband helped by her?

Do all the boys bring their books?
Are the books brought by boys?

PRESENT CONTINIOUS TENSE

Meera is cooking the dinner
The dinner has been cooked by meera

The soldiers are defending the town braverly
The town was defended bravely by the soldiers.

They are writing letters to their parents
The letters are written to their parents

Are the children eating sweets now?
Are sweets are eaten by children?

Is she telling the truth?
Is it truth that she told?

Are they appointing him Principal of this school?
Are the school appointed him as principal?

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

Mohan has struck Ashok
Ashok has been stuck by Mohan

The rain has ruined the crops
The crops have been ruined by the Rain

He has sold his old car
Old Car has been sold by him

She has brought a new car
A new car was brought by her

Has she lost her book
Was his book has been lost?

Have all the pupils finished the exercises
Have the exercises has been finished by all the pupils?

PAST TENSE

The teacher punished all the pupils
All the pupils were punished by the Teacher

Our team won the match
The match was won by our team

Meera kinitted these gloves
The gloves was knitted by Meera

She forgave her husband
He husband was forgiven by her

The servent swept the room
The room was sweeped by the servent
\
Did you plant these flowers?
Does these flowered planted by you

Did you forget her name
Does the name forgotten by you?

Did many people believe her story?
Does her story beleived by many people

PAST CONTINIOUS tenSE

The wind was blowing the clouds away
The clouds were being blowed by the winds away

Our soldiers were repairing the bridge
The bridge were being repaired by the soldiers

Were the children making a noise?
Were the noise being maked by the children?

WEre they having their breakfast?
Were their breakfast being had?

PAST PERFECT TENSE

The noise had frightened the horse
The horse had been frightened by the noise

Lightning had struck the house
The house had been struck by lightning

Had the farmer sown the seeds
The seeds had been sown bu the farmer

Had the postman delivered the letters
The letters had been delivered by the postman

FUTURE TENSE

Everyone will blame us
We will be blamed by everyone

Shall we spend the whole money?
Will the whole money spend by us ?

people will forget it after sometime
Will people forget it after sometime

All next week the workmen will be paiting our new house
Our new house will be painting by the workmen all next week

Will the fire destroy this house
will the house be destroyed by the fire?

Will she tell us the truth ?
Will the truth told by her ?

Thanks in advance .

Re: 2 questions

Newguest — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:40:25 GMT

So, I understand that the past perfect is correct in the first example.

By the way, does the "she was working" refer to the present? I've read somewhere that it does. It was strange to me because it's the PAST continuous tense, it's not a present tense?

Re: present perfect & past perfect

Avangi — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:02:13 GMT

Hi! Welcome to the English Forums.

This seems to be one of those narrative styles where everything happens in the past perfect. The introductory present participial phrase doesn't really have a tense. You can argue that the thinking took place before the going on, but once you get to the past perfect, there's no earlier tense to use.

Even if you were narrating in the future tense, the present participial phrase would still look the same.

Seeing that there is no milk (pres.part.) she will hurry to the store. Thinking that the store must have run out of milk also (pres part.) she will hurry on to the next store.

Notice that the clauses which serve as objects of both present participles are in the present tense.

I'm sure someone will offer a more satisfying explanation. - A.

Edit. Yes, I see this is not good. You could say, "Seeing that there was no milk she would hurry to the store." Then you're stuck with "she would hurry" for the next sentence.

But the point remains that the tense within the present participial phrase doesn't have to agree with the tense of the main clause.

Re: past tense and politeness and tentativeness

AlpheccaStars — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:56:41 GMT

"I wondered whether you could help me?",

Simple past, completed action. This is not present tense, but I suppose the "past time" could be one second ago. I don't use this.

"I had wondered whether you could help me?"

Past perfect tense. The action (wonder) completed at some time in the past. I don't use this.

"I was wondering whether you could help me?"

I use this to ask someone very politely for help right now. The progressive tense means that the action (wonder) started a short time ago, and continues up to this point in time. I also use "if" more frequently than "whether". (American English)

I also ask,: "Can you please help me?"

use of wish

Anonymous — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:27:33 GMT

Hello, I need some help with the following sentence This movie is terrible. I wish I hadn't gone to see it. Â Why do we use the past perfect if the first sentence is in the present tense?

Can somebody help me?

Re: Parallel structure

Gori — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:25:54 GMT

Thank you for your comments and advice, both RayH and Clive

As Clive says, what you say makes sense to me. Probably a) and d) may be ambiguous and readers may refer to them as "present tense," not "present perfect tense." Thank you for pointing it out!

However, as RayH says all of the examples a) through d) are still grammatically acceptable?? According to my grammar book, it says that "parallel structure makes repeating the same words unncecessary." In my examples, what are the same words unnecessary? I thought first that I could remove all the repeated words--"the," "perfect," and "tense" (but "tense" must be "tenses" if I drop one "the" in a sentence)--and make the sentence concise, as in the example a) Use the present and past perfect tenses. However, now I have started to think that "perfect" had better not drop after the word "present" since it may not be an unnecessary word omitted (in order to prevent readers from misunderstanding that it is "present tense," not "present perfect"). Is my understanding correct??

Re: past progressive or past perfect progressive

CalifJim — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:18:21 GMT

beta_teacher
Past progressive or Past Perfect Progressive

Of the two, past progressive is the only one that seems idiomatic to my ear, but present is fine as well. In fact, present tense was the first that came to mind for me, i.e., he's a 'fast walker'. And the simple past is also fine.

past perfect usage

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:08:46 GMT

Hi,
Let us pretend I looked up a idiomatic phrase in a dictionary and let us say a use example of it is stated like this, would you consider the past perfect tense is correct? I feel the present tense 'state' and 'say' bring a reported speech part next and somehow, I feel the past perfect is correct, but I can't explain the reason even to myself.

If you state/say that (an idiomatic phrase), then what you are saying is that how you are feeling (now?) is different than you had felt.

Re: The Continuous tense

Tanit — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:43:11 GMT

Hi,

Anonymous
Does that rule not fit in with "What are you doing?"?

Sure it fits, why not?

"What are you doing?"

are is the present tense of the verb "to be" (second person, singular)
doing is the -ing form of "to do" (which here acts as the main verb)

When you have a verb in its continuous form, the tense is given by the verb "to be":

I am studying ... > present continuous
I have been studying ... > present perfect continuous
I was studying ... > past continuous
I had been studying ... > past perfect continuous