Search results for 'tag:Simple past' matching tag 'Simple past'

Re: Another question about verbs

mister micawber — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:14:24 GMT

You cannot explain aspect or voice or tense-- there is not enough context. It could be simple or perfect aspect, active or passive voice, simple past, or just an adjective. All you can say is that it is the -ed form of the verb.

Re: Is this correct?

califjim — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:36:25 GMT

Wouldn't it be more suitable to use Past Continuous? After while , you mean? Well, that's probably the most expected tense after while , but in English the simple past can take on the same connotations. The while almost forces the verb to be taken in the continuous aspect whether it is stated that way or not. So you also see the simple past after while quite a lot, for example, in the very famous Nero fiddled while Rome burned . If you are in doubt when writing your own sentences, use the past continuous, but recognize that the past simple is usually just as good. CJ

Re: Tense

clive — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:01:03 GMT

Hi, tense of ment me a nt is the Simple Past and Past Participle of the irregular verb 'mean'. Clive

It hadn't been a lie.

akdom — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:04:47 GMT

"Forgive me, but I've--I've got an appointment." A smile curved across her mouth. It hadn't been a lie , not in the strick sense of the word. Could you explain why use "hadn't been a lie" here? Why the Past Perfect ? it hadn't been a lie (PastPerfect) it wasn't a lie (Simple Past) I would rather use It wasn't a lie . I am very confused. Please explain to me that the different sense it conveys when Past Perfect is used and when Simple Past is used.

Re: When and while with past time

philip — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:43:25 GMT

The link from MrM is very useful. As a simple explanation for the beginning student, I recommend that one use when with the simple past and while with the past continuous. This is an oversimplification, but exposure to native writing and speaking will allow the individual to expand on it.

Re: Passive & Active Voice

tanit — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:29:57 GMT

Hi, I'd change these: 5. The sun was eclipsed by the moon. ACTIVE PASSIVE 9. This bone has been buried by the dog . PASSIVE 10. It takes a long time to think of these examples . PASSIVE ACTIVE 13. There was a cup of coffee on the table but now it's gone. ACTIVE 15. Mark was given one month to write this book . ACTIVE PASSIVE As far as your #14 is concerned, I am not sure everybody would agree on this. 14. I was born under a wandering star I was taught that this is technically a passive form, but some regard it as active (Cambridge dictionary lists the verb " be born "). For instance, here's what some of our most prominent members wrote in the forums. (Opinions are split) Clive ( from this post<

Re: We lived in Ireland for five years

dimsumexpress — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:52:13 GMT

Sorry to butt in like this. I'm sure Clive will give his expert advice but let me try to explain it the way I see it (from a non native speaker's point of view). Regarding the New York sentence, since both the living/working occur at the same time I see no reason for using the past perfect in combination with the simple past as the two suggest different times. I had never seen such a beautiful beach before I went to Kauai. The past perfect is needed here regardless of the time word 'before' . It has to do with 'the PP have never seen' put in the past (up until some point in the past as opposed to up until now) . I did not have any money because I had lost my wallet. Tony knew...

Re: HELP!!! independent clauses connected with ,and

billj — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:36:09 GMT

I thought have was needed before spread to keep a single tense. That would be a good solution: They have appeared on message boards and in blogs and have spread by word of mouth. There are no dependent clauses here, by the way --- just an independent clause with a compound predicate. CJ This is not a question of predicate, compound (whatever that means) or otherwise. This is a straightforward example of a compound sentence containing TWO independent clauses, linked by the conjunction ' and '' : and . You can tell there are two clauses because there are TWO VERBS ( have appeared and have spread , or the passive have been spread ). A clause...

Re: Problems with mixed tenses exercises

clive — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:07:25 GMT

Hi, Welcome to the Forum. Problem 1: img687.imageshack.us/img687/4138/testnx.jpg It's much easier for us to respond if you actually post the question here. Most of us don't want to go off and start searching other sites. It takes time and often makes it harder for us to make edits and to respond in a quick way. I've got doubts concerning number 7 (love). According to the key there are 2 possible answers "love/loved". My question is: why is Present Perfect impossible here? To my Polish ear, it just sounds perfect Problem 3: At the dentist's I was on time for my dentist's appointment, but the dentist was still busy with another patient, so I (1)..(sit) in the waiting room and (2).....

Re: We lived in Ireland for five years

ivanhr — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:53:47 GMT

Problems with mixed tenses exercises

chudziol — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:14:40 GMT

Hi, I'm a Pole trying to explore the intricacies English This is my first post here so, welcome everybody. And here are my problems. I've done these tests and I even got the key, but there is no freaking way I can understand some answers. Wondering now if it's really so difficult or I'm just so stupid Ok, let's go: Problem 1: img687.imageshack.us/img687/4138/testnx.jpg I've got doubts concerning number 7 (love). According to the key there are 2 possible answers "love/loved". My question is: why is Present Perfect impossible here? To my Polish ear, it just sounds perfect Problem 2: img80.imageshack.us/img80/9406/focusj.jpg Number 20. Can we put "was shutting" here? Or maybe the action of...

Re: We lived in Ireland for five years

dimsumexpress — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:56:29 GMT

Thank you Clive for the critique. For the New York sentence, is there anything wrong or misleading in the construction that needs to be reworded. After the rewording, the original past perfect context has been erased. Maybe I tried too hard to concoct a past perfect sentence. The past perfect here makes it sound like they counted him out before he lost his campaign, which is not your meaning. I'd say Many people counted him out 20 years ago after he lost his campaign . . . I agree "after" is a better choice than "when" for the context. But I also have this thought. When all the ballots were completely counted late into the evening, that's when he realized he had lost...

Re: We lived in Ireland for five years

clive — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:20:22 GMT

Hi, The couple next door had argued and gotten physical frequently months prior to the last night's shooting. Sounds fine either way to me. He had worked for a couple of restaurants in town as a waiter before he became a big time singer. I wouldn't say this is wrong, but I prefer simple past. I lived in New York for 5 years while I had worked for IBM between years 1900 to 1995. I'd reword this whole thing. I lived in New York from 19 9 0 to 1995, while I was working for IBM.

Re: We lived in Ireland for five years

dimsumexpress — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:22:58 GMT

Hi Clive, Thanks for taking the time on my query. I guess what I had in mind when I used "had taken computer science for 2 semesters.." rather than the simple "took" was the deliberate intent to emphasize the duration I had spent time in the course before deciding to change major in the second year. I know simple past would work in everyday conversation. But I didn't expect the contrary when I opted the past perfect. Now I have few more past perfect scenarios for you to comment on. Please let me know if past perfect is an overkill, being incorrect or unnecessay. Thanks, The couple next door had argued and gotten physical frequently months prior to the last night's shooting. He...

Re: We lived in Ireland for five years

clive — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:24:32 GMT

Hi, However, words like 'before' and 'after' usually make the sequence of events very clear. In such cases, simple past is commonly used rather than past perfect. eg She turned on the stove before she cooked dinner. instead of She had turned on the stove before she cooked dinner. There are also some other general considerations for use of past perfect such as the writer's possible desire to keep the focus on the later event. Best wishes, Clive

Re: Is this sentence correct?

billj — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:26:38 GMT

Hi No, I'm afraid it's not correct. The problem is your use of the verb 'go'. You tried to use the negative form of the simple past tense and wrongly assumed it was 'did not went'. This is a tricky aspect of English verbs which causes many problems. I'll try to explain: In questions the simple present and past tenses are replaced by the the relevant tenses of the verb ' to do ' + the basic (infinitive) form of the verb. The same also applies to the simple tenses in conjunction with ' not ' when we want to form the negative: I really went there. (past tense - positive) Did you really go there? (past tense - question) You did not really go...

Re: Is this sentence correct?

clive — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:54:56 GMT

Hi, No. There are two errors. 1. Say 'did not go', not 'did not went'. You need to review how to make simple past tense. 2. An English sentence must start with a capital letter. Clive

Re: Using Past Perfect with "last year"

tinanam0102 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:36:17 GMT

Hi Clive, Thank you for your help. I'll remeber to use Simple Past. I apologize for the typos I made in #1. For #2. I copied it down from a newsletter. Regards, Tinanam

Re: Using Past Perfect with "last year"

clive — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:22:42 GMT

Hi, In both of your examples, I see no reason to use Past Perfect. I'd just use Simple Past. If you have typed them correctly, other parts of the wording suggest to me that these sentences were not written by native speakers. Best wishes, Clive

Re: Shouldn't

ter — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:31:05 GMT

If it's simple past, you don't need to use "have" in front of the simple past tense. "I shouldn't ate it." "I shouldn't have eaten it." is correct.

Shouldn't

pleasehelp — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:21:11 GMT

I shouldn't have ate it. Or I shouldn't have eaten it. What's the difference? The second sentence is present perfect so is the first sentence simple past tense?

Re: About DID

yankee — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:57:00 GMT

No. To build the simple past tense of a verb in a negative sentence, you use did + not + base form of the verb So, your sentence is correct this way: - I did not want him to come.

"because malcolm had never become a cutthroat CEO, he had few enemies"

mkyol — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:22:46 GMT

I would like someone to confirm my thoughts on the following sentence, to see if I am on the right track or am just in fantasy lala land, going off on a tangent: "Because Malcolm had never become a cutthroat CEO, he had few enemies." I am pondering about the above sentence, in terms of the tense used. I think the sentence is trying to convey that sometime in the past, Malcolm had few enemies, and this is because going further back into the past from that point, Malcolm was never a cutthroat CEO (he never became one during that time). Compare the above sentence with the following sentence, written in simple past tense: "Because Malcolm never became a cutthroat CEO, he had few enemies." In this case, I think that...

Re: Passive

califjim — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:48:36 GMT

I just want to point out the word "could" is indicative of the subjunctive mood Modal verbs don't have tenses and moods in the way that other verbs do. could certainly acts like a past subjunctive in If I could help you, I would. but could , like several other modals, can act in other ways as well, including as a conditional or a simple past. CJ

Re: Questions mainly on past perfect tense uses

califjim — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:24:58 GMT

1. There is no objection to the use of time words with the past perfect tense. The objection is when these words are used with the present perfect tense. You may, however, if you wish, replace "last week" with "the previous week". Both are equally correct from the grammatical point of view. 2. The sentence is fine as it stands. The simple past forms of find and leave are indistinguishable from their past participles, so it's impossible to say whether the writer intended the auxiliary had to apply to them or not. Nothing about the correctness of the sentence hinges on knowing this; it would be correct either way. 3. would be is not wrong. It depends on what meaning you want to convey. Because he hadn't...

Re: Rules of Pronounciation for regular verbs in the Simple Past needed

jackderrick — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:08:51 GMT

This article is very helpful for the past simple pronunciation - Rules for Past Simple Pronunciation

Re: Happen

mister micawber — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 04:11:20 GMT

You have not heard both used by native speakers– you have mis-heard– and we have already discussed this at length. This very simple grammar point is the one for which I mistakenly awarded you an A+ for understanding. I now withdraw the grade and assign you to the remedial class: please use your energies to find and re-read that thread rather than having us use our energies to explain the simple past tense again to you. Thank you.

Re: Question Word?

avangi — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:29:02 GMT

Hi, vineeta. Welcome to English forums. Thanks for joining us. Actually, "What" is the subject of these sentences. In this case it's a pronoun, third person singular. "You" is the direct object of the verb. It's like, "Who gave you that pencil?", except in this case "you" is the indirect object, and the tense is simple past. "Who wants me for a partner?" Best wishes, - A.

Re: Use of the word pled

avangi — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:59:47 GMT

Is the use of the word pled in the following example grammatically correct? The parties have pled not guilty .. In this case the simple past tense and the past participle are identical. (You can always find them listed in your dictionary.) The present perfect tense uses the present of "to have" plus the past participle. (He has pled not guilty.)

Re: Waked

avangi — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:26:37 GMT

I'd use it as optional simple past, tr. and intr.

Re: Would have Vpp or would V

anonymous — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:29:10 GMT

Here's how it should be: Jackson would have celebrated his fiftieth birthday this August if he were alive . Jackson would have celebrated his fiftieth birthday this August if he had not died earlier this year . There are a few different ways. The protasis (if part) is in present time and contrary to fact whereas the apodasis (then part) is in the past. It all depends when this was written, too. It could read this since it was written in June: Jackson would celebrate his fiftieth birthday this August if he were still alive . Jackson would celebrate his fiftieth birthday this August if he had not died . Jackson would be celebrating his fiftieth birthday this August if he had not died . Jackson...

Re: Tense

anonymous — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:14:57 GMT

"If you knew what I had gone through, you would surely pity me." Don't listen to these people. You can change it to "have" because only the first verb has to be in the subjunctive mood. The verb "knew" is not in the simple past indicative; it's in the simple past subjunctive. Fowler tells us that English does not have to have verb agreement with other verbs in subordinate clauses; therefore you can say: If you knew , you would surely pity me. The subordinate clause is bracketed so that you know what I'm talking about. This is not contrary to fact. You HAVE gone through a lot of ***. There is nothing wrong, though, with keeping it in the past—at least according to Fowler....

Re: I bet...

yankee — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 01:12:48 GMT

The verbs in your sentences have different tenses. I bet I stopped listening before you did . bet = simple present tense stopped = simple past tense did = simple past tense (The word "did" is used as a replacement for "stopped".) Your second sentence contains a pretty unlikely tense combination, in my opinion. In fact, it strikes me as simply being bad grammar: I bet I' ve stopped listening before you did . bet = simple present tense