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

Re: caused

Avangi — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:02:18 GMT

From Caris' point of view, it could be simple past. We apologize for any inconvenience [this] caused. (I'm not sure if that's a legal eliptical.)

Well, I suppose it could be passive, simple past: We apologize for any inconvenience [that was] caused. (assuming that when the participle is used to form a tense, it's called [part of] a verb ???)

- A.

Re: told/heard

Clive — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:53:49 GMT

Hi,
'Gguider' is not a correct word here. Perhaps you mean 'guide'. However, a guide does not usually explain the rules of a system to people. So, I'm not sure what you r meaning is.

Usually a system has several rules, not just one rule.

Let's begin by comparing the verbs 'hear' and 'tell' very simply.
Tom heard the news from Mary.
Mary told Tom the news.
These sentences are very similar.

I had been told over and over again the rule of the system by the guider.

Can I change like this?

I heard/had heard over again the rule of the system by from the guider.

'Over and over' is more emphatic than just 'over'.
You are told something by someone. You hear something from someone.

If you have a reason to use the Past Perfect in the first sentence, that's probably a good reason to also use it in the second version.
However, Simple Past is also grammatically correct.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: Difference between "lately" and "recently" ?

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:12:10 GMT

There is a difference in sentence position, it seems. At least in American English, "lately" does not seem natural between the subject and the verb, whereas "recently" sounds fine there.
For example: I've recently been studying Norwegian in earnest. (sounds okay)
                    I've lately been studying Norwegian in earnest. (weird)
Both can stand at the beginning and end of these sentences.
Also "lately" doesn't work in simple past sentences.
For example: Recently, I began studying Norwegian. (okay)
                    Lately, I began studying Norwegian. (weird)
The two words seem equal in the perfect tenses, except for the positional problem that "lately" has before the main verb.

Re: Tense mix-up overload

Clive — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:18:47 GMT

Hi,
My doubt concerns the way I've changed the tenses in each sentence.

"Nick sat down, thinking about all that had happened, wondering where it would take him, wondering if it made any sense to stay any longer. He took out his cellphone and began dialing a number, even as a million doubts assaulted him. A loud song blared out from the speakers but he didn't take note..."

Here, Nick "sat" is clearly a past tense. Yes.
But right after the comma I've used "thinking", then another comma, "wondering", and so on. So my question would be, what tense are those parts of the sentences in? He sat down in the past, but this thinking and wondering, at what time frame are they occurring in? I hope I'm asking the right questions here, I'm not very good with the terminology.
The words 'thinking / wondering / wondering' are just participles acting as adjectives which describe Nick. They don't involve any tense at all. The tense is supplied by the verb 'sat'. Consider these simple examples which illustrate this point.

Nick sat, thinking.
Nick sits, thinking.
Nick will sit, thinking.

And the next sentence again starts in a past sense.Yes, it's Simple Past. And then, the "began dialing" what tense would that be, past progressive? Yes. Basically I'm really confused. A little explanation would help. Simple Past focuses on the event that happened. Progressive stresses duration. There's nothing at all unusual about using these two tenses together.

eg I saw Tom yesterday. He was walking down the street.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: Had + present usage

Tanit — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 10:27:16 GMT

PS: By the way, some examples of "I had came" that appear in the above search are correct - but they have nothing to do with past perfect .

For instance:

Every Wish I Had Came True. = Every Wish [that] I Had | Came True =Every Wish (that I Had) Came True.
The only income i had came from ... = The only income [that] I had came from ... = The only income (that I had) came from ...

Here the main verb is came, and it is in simple past.

Re: Is " was purchased " past perfect tense?

Tanit — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 07:32:45 GMT

Hi,

loveCZ
Until the new software was purchased, the staff had struggled to keep the accounts records up to date.

In the above example, "was purchased" this possible ~~past perfect tense~~ is followed by "had struggled" this past perfect tense. My teacher taught me that we use past perfect tense to state something which happened firstly and past tense to something that happened after. So I thought the last example should have used "is purchased" this ~~past tense~~ instead of "was purchased" this ~~past perfect,~~ am I right?

First thing first, let's give the verb forms their correct names.

        was purchased >> past simple, passive
        had struggled >> past perfect
        is purchased >> present simple, passive

The time sequence in your example sentence is something like this:
1. in the past, the staff had struggled to keep the accounts record up to date
2. so (in a less remote past) the firm (or company, or whatever) purchased a new software
3. as a result, the staff does not struggle any more.

So, the tenses are fine: the struggling (which is in past perfect: 'had struggled') happened before the purchasing (which is in simple past: 'was purchased') of the software. This agrees with your teacher's explanation, right?

Re: The use of the Past Perfect

Huevos — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:29:54 GMT

Ant_222
a straight grey rain had began

"Begin", => "began" => "had begun". Present => past => perfect. In my opinion you need another verb in there:

a straight grey rain had begun to fall
it had begun to rain straight and grey

Although you could use the perfect I think the simple past works better.

Ant_222
"Before I had written a couple of lines someone called me", where the last clause, although it precedes the event expressed in the Past Perfect, is in the Past Simple form.

The interupting action does not precede.The perfect is being used to describe the state at the time of the interuption, not the action that may or may not subsequently occur. Compare with the present: "Before I have [even] written a couple of lines someone calls me". Your sentence is a backshifted version of this.

Re: missing phrase please

Clive — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:49:49 GMT

Hi,
Hi,
Would you fill in the blank with the missing phrase. I am keen on finding out what verb do you mean 'what tense'? can be used. I am not particulary concerned about the nature of the phrase.

Q: What does this English expression mean?
A: If you say that, you are saying that it (possible phrase) than you had done.

First, a few comments.
1. You have provided no real context.
2. The answerer does not appear to be really answering the question directly, so his words could go in many, many directions.
3. The phrase and tense 'than you had done' makes it hard to come up with anything sensible to say without dreaming up some rather contorted context.
4. The Past Perfect suggests the missing phrase probably uses Simple Past.

You could say A: If you say that, you are saying that it required more work than you had done.

Best wishes, Clive

Sorry, that seat's taken.

Avangi — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 04:50:01 GMT

Hi,
Why would we consider the participle an adjective in the simple present and a verb in the present perfect?
Sorry, that seat's been taken.

What do we call it in the simple past?
Sorry, that seat was taken.

Is there no passive in the simple present? What am I missing? (I am devastated!)

Many thanks, - A.

Re: Please correct this sentence. Thanks.

Mister Micawber — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:22:41 GMT

.
You don't have to try to stay in the same tense in a sentence unless the actions happen in the same tense. A single sentence can contain several verb tenses.

Your sentence sounds like a fictional narrative, which might read like this:

In the post-revolution era, John realized that he too had lost his influence in the government and was subjected to the same treatment as common people.

Losing his influence happened before his subjection and realization, so it is set in past perfect, while the other 2 are in simple past.