By Present tenses, Simple past

1. Well, "had" is the past tense of the verb "have", but I think you're asking specifically about its use as an auxiliary to form the past perfect tense of other verbs: I played -- simple past tense I have played -- present perfect tense I had played -- past perfect (or...

Hiu, The present tense suggests the belt-tightening is still going on. If this all related to events 20 years ago, one would of course use the simple past. Best wishes, Clive

John becomes ill. --> simple present tense. Perhaps John gets sick every time he rides a roller coaster, for example. John became ill. --> simple past tense. Perhaps John got sick last Monday, for example.

Hi, I suggest that you begin by explaining or reviewing how to make the Simple Past and Simple Present tenses, looking first at statements and then at questions. If your student does not have a clear grasp of that, you will just get a constant stream of errors. Then you can deal with the other...

I want to confirm one more thing. Present Tense Simple Past Tense may might run ran come came Can I group 'might' as past tense of 'may' as shown above? If so, 'might' can be to the past...

Hi AvangiTo me, the word 'if' is used like 'whenever' in your sentence, and the word 'will' is used to indicate a habitual or repeated action (i.e. in that sentence, you are saying it is not your habit to wonder about things such as closed doors while you are on vacation)....

Another example. This really has more to do with backshifting as well. "If this happened, the last thing I'd be worried about would be/was/is what the repercussions would be/were/are."The first two possibilities (ie would and simple past) seem fairly plausible to me. The present...

Hi MapleThere is nothing about the word 'for' that should suggest that you need to use the 'past perfect'. If that's a "rule" you've learned somewhere along the line, I strongly suggest you try to "unlearn" it fast. The word 'for' can be used...

Vincent Teo wrote:Can I say, (a) The radio was broken yesterday / last week. Yes, and I'd say the word 'broken' is used as an adjective. (b) The radio is broken just now / now. 'Now' is OK, but 'just now' would only work if it is used to mean 'at this particular moment' rather than 'just a...

Any good grammar book will tell you that the simple present tense is frequently used and also perfectly acceptable in reported speech when you are reporting a general truth or a still current (still currently factual) situation. In such cases, you can use either the simple past OR the simple...