Search results for 'tag:Simple past tag:Nouns' matching tags 'Simple past' and 'Nouns'

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

Avangi — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:19:52 GMT

sebayanpendam
By the way, the noun for minutes is spelt with an 's' right?

Yes.

I never got into anything really complicated, but I never found anything where simple past didn't work. "Jack said that . . . "; Joe moved that . . . ."; the motion carried."; "Bill was absent."; etc.

I think it's the nature of the minutes to be reported speech. "The following plan was approved by a voice vote: 1. The president will attend the city council meeting on January 10, etc."

- A.

Re: Olympics violations

Huevos — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:28:40 GMT

Both 1 and 2, are just style. I've converted "bid" to a noun in both cases instead of a verb. "Bid" as a verb is not only irregular but there are also different forms of each tense, (simple past: bid / bade / bad; past participle: bid / bidden) which might even leave some native speakers thinking you have made an error.

Re: A few English Grammar Questions !! Need help..

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:59:31 GMT

1. Â Â Â Â A group IS ... Â (Not important who is in the group). A group is a singular, countable noun.

3.Â Â Â Â Both wrong. Â Â Â Â She went home half an hour ago. Given, finished time requires simple past UNLESS it relates to another action in the past. e.g. She had gone home before the others arrived.

4.Â Â Â Â She has sold... Â Indefinite (no time) past. Done, but we don't know (or care) when.

5Â Â Â Â Ditto

6. Â Â Â Â Have you ever ...? Â Indefinite past. We don't know when.

7. Â Â Â Â Mmmm, this one is elementary ! Â Do you .... Â ALWAYS requires the infinitive form. e.g. Do you live..., Do you like..., Do you do... Do you have...?Â

I could write a whole grammar book on how to differentiate the 6 modal verbs and their MANY uses. I suggest you buy one.Â Â Â Â Good luck :)

Re: have got

Skrej — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:52:03 GMT

Hahah, you two make me laugh with these posts.

Yoong, all your emoticons and hyper-links work fine for me. I can click on your links and it brings up the post, just like it's supposed to.

About contractions: It depends upon what kind of contraction. Personal pronoun contractions can be used with everything except the simple present, simple past, and past continuous, including most present forms, and all the future forms. They won't work with the simple past, but they can work with the past perfect, and past perfect continuous. However, they can be a bit ambiguous, so you need to write your sentences so they're clear, or write them out to avoid any confusing cases. Also, contractions are viewed as informal, so be aware of the situation you're writing for, when deciding whether or not to use them.

I'd studied acting before moving to New York. (past. perf.)

You weren't studying? (past cont. but -it's not a personal pronoun contraction.)

You'd been studying when she called. (past. perf. cont.)

I'll do it in a minute( simple future)
I'll have finished it by the time you get home. (future perf.)

However:

He's tired. (Unclear- Is it "He is tired" (simple present), or "He has tired" (pres. perf.)

Re: "Impurities"

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:57:38 GMT

Hi Goodman,

Well, I understood that in fact there isn't an exact grammatic explanation why we use "It's" with plural nouns, isn't it? Is it the same as to ask for example, why the simple past and past perfect of the verb to cut is : cut - cut. Am I wrong?

So, when you say "It's the artificial ingredients in the foods.." We have to understand the meaning of "it's" as being in plural, in spite of writing it in the singular form, don't we?

Thanks again,

Saadi

Re: C.V.

Clive — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 05:22:58 GMT

Hi,

But just to make sure, because it still sounds weird to my ear, but if you say it's the right way to do it I will beleive you, considering it's a previous work experience I should write :

Tasks: Programmed data acquisition applications and numerical simulations for the ISAC 2 (isotope separation and acceleration 2) control room.

This sounds OK. It's a simple statement of a past activity, and that's what Simple Past tense is used for.

Such things are normally written in a somewhat abbreviated grammar , without the personal pronoun 'I'.

I see that you have the sub-heading 'Tasks:' here. I'm not sure how appropriate that seems. It doesn't seem necessary.

I wouldn't recommend numbering the various points in your lists. In my experience, that's not normally done.

Clive

Re: 1)I sat on the terrace, drinking coffee.

Belly — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 07:39:50 GMT

Hoa Thai wrote:
Belly wrote:

Ok I understood that drinking implies a continuous activity, but it may violate with the parallelsim, may not it?

Not really! This sentence contains the vilolation: "He sat at the terrace and was drinking coffee." One clause uses the simple past tense and the other uses the past progressive tense. In your previous sentence, 'drinking' is a gerund (a noun form of a verb). 'Drinking coffee' is noun phrase acts as an adjectival component.

Belly wrote:

According to my grammar book, could isn't used in context like this. Could is used when we generally referring to the past.

I don't know what you mean. Please quote your book.

Belly wrote:

I'm with you in the last question, Hoa Thai, I don't know why my teacher corrected so. Notwithstanding, you can see my original work at http://www.englishforums.com/English/CorrectEssay/zwlkz/Post.htm. It's my orginal work befored it was modified by my teacher.

Could you show what I shared with you to your teacher and ask for his opinion?

My take:

1. 'go to (vocational) school' represents a task students do.
2. 'go to a (vocational) school' represents an undefinitive selection.
3. I am troubled by 'go to (vocational) schools' and would like to hear others' opinions.

Take care,
Hoa Thai
EDIT NOTE: I will look at your other post and share with you my opinion later.
EDIT NOTE #2: I saw 'school' instead of 'schools' in your other post!

I haven't seen that we can use past and past continuous in like that. I sat there drinking coffee. What is an adjectival component? I sat there drinking coffee, which occurs first? which later?

Yes, the original was school, but my teacher corrected it into schools

Re: 1)I sat on the terrace, drinking coffee.

Hoa Thai — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 06:51:07 GMT

Belly wrote:
Ok I understood that drinking implies a continuous activity, but it may violate with the parallelsim, may not it?

Not really! This sentence contains the vilolation: "He sat at the terrace and was drinking coffee." One clause uses the simple past tense and the other uses the past progressive tense. In your previous sentence, 'drinking' is a gerund (a noun form of a verb). 'Drinking coffee' is noun phrase acts as an adjectival component.

Belly wrote:
According to my grammar book, could isn't used in context like this. Could is used when we generally referring to the past.

I don't know what you mean. Please quote your book.

Belly wrote:

I'm with you in the last question, Hoa Thai, I don't know why my teacher corrected so. Notwithstanding, you can see my original work at http://www.englishforums.com/English/CorrectEssay/zwlkz/Post.htm. It's my orginal work befored it was modified by my teacher.

Could you show what I shared with you to your teacher and ask for his opinion?

My take:

1. 'go to (vocational) school' represents a task students do.
2. 'go to a (vocational) school' represents an undefinitive selection.
3. I am troubled by 'go to (vocational) schools' and would like to hear others' opinions.

Take care,
Hoa Thai
EDIT NOTE: I will look at your other post and share with you my opinion later.
EDIT NOTE #2: I saw 'school' instead of 'schools' in your other post!

Re: simple past vs present perfect

Magic79 — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 09:12:34 GMT

Sorry Cali for using the wrong pronoun.

Thanks Grammar.

So my discourse grammar thing was not quite right and both simple past and past perfect can be used depending on whether we know when or whether it was pretty recent or relevant. It's all about how we percieve the distance and relevance of the verb "ordered."

I have a question:

Do average Americans make a clear distinction between the simple past and present perfect or is it only for professors, teachers, journalists, and the like?

I know that they use simple past with YET and ALREADY...when they should use the present perfect. Am I missing something...Am I only seeing the tip of an iceberg?

Re: registration and wrought

Clive — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 03:32:01 GMT

Hi,

When we use the word "registration" which seems an uncountable noun, do we use as "registration" or "registrations"?

Registration starts at 8 a.m.

For late registrations, please go to Booth 5.

The word 'registration' can refer to the overall activity of registration (uncountable), or to individual acts of registration (countable).

I see the word "wrought" being used sometimes but I don't understand its exact meaning.

Krosa earlier wrought havoc in Taiwan. 'Wrought' is the Simple Past of the verb 'wreak', meaning 'to make or cause (damage)'.

Best wishes, Clive