Search results for 'tag:Simple present tag:Pronouns' matching tags 'Simple present' and 'Pronouns'

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: he is gone. What tense is being used? Is that simple present tense?

Anonymous — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:08:44 GMT

Â I think it's a big mistake because the verb after theÂ auxiliaryÂ is in the pastÂ participle,Â it means that theÂ auxiliary should be 'has' Â (the verbÂ 'to have' in the present) instead of 'is' (the verbÂ 'to be' Â in the present. its aÂ commonÂ mistake and it's a confusion of the contracted form of this sentence (He's gone) witch is He has gone, the ('s) after the pronoun (He) is taken as the contrected from of (is).Â

Re: One of the ... that ...

Zj.frank — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:37:23 GMT

Tanit wrote:

Hi, good question!

I was wandering whether a slightly different point of view exists as for the subject of the sentence:
He is one [of the few] that knows the solution to the problem.
or
He is one of the few that know the solution to the problem.

After some research, I came across this:

"one of those who. Constructions such as one of those people who pose a different problem. Many people argue that who should be followed by a plural verb in these sentences, as in He is one of those people who just donât take ânoâ for an answer. Their thinking is that the relative pronoun who refers to the plural noun people, not to one. They would extend the rule to constructions with inanimate nouns, as in The sports car turned out to be one of the most successful products that were ever manufactured in this country.

But the use of the singular verb in these constructions is common, even among the best writers. In an earlier survey, 42 percent of the Usage Panel accepted the use of the singular verb in such constructions. Itâs really a matter of which word you feel is most appropriate as the antecedent of the relative pronounâ one or the plural noun in the of phrase that follows it. Note also that when the phrase containing one is introduced by the definite article, the verb in the relative clause must be singular: He is the only one of the students who has (not have) already taken Latin."

For what it's worth, heere are the Google search results for
"one of the few of that" and
"one of the few of who" in the BBC website only. If you consider only sentences in simple present , you will find both "have" and "has", "do" and "does" and so on.

Thanks, Tanit!

I was writing my previous reply while you posted this one.

The link you provided is really useful.

Re: One of the ... that ...

Tanit — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:18:48 GMT

Zj.frank wrote:
Dear all:

He is one of the few that knows the solution to the problem.
or
He is one of the few that know the solution to the problem.

Do the two "that"s denote different things? Shall we say that the first "that" denotes "he" while the second "that" denotes "the few"? If so, do the two sentences have slightly different meanings?

It seems that the first sentence is more often used. Here is an example from <http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/films/int/1mm/gluttony/-/films/oneminutemovies/watch/snowball.shtml?gluttony.shtml>

This is the best film on here... and one of the few that bothers with any sense of narrative and character.

Surely there are a few films that bother with some sense of narrative and character. Is it to say that in such case, we usually use "that bothers" rather than "that bother"? Thanks in advance for any enlightenment!

Hi, good question!

I was wandering whether a slightly different point of view exists as for the subject of the sentence:
He is one [of the few] that knows the solution to the problem.
or
He is one of the few that know the solution to the problem.

After some research, I came across this:

"one of those who. Constructions such as one of those people who pose a different problem. Many people argue that who should be followed by a plural verb in these sentences, as in He is one of those people who just donât take ânoâ for an answer. Their thinking is that the relative pronoun who refers to the plural noun people, not to one. They would extend the rule to constructions with inanimate nouns, as in The sports car turned out to be one of the most successful products that were ever manufactured in this country.

But the use of the singular verb in these constructions is common, even among the best writers. In an earlier survey, 42 percent of the Usage Panel accepted the use of the singular verb in such constructions. Itâs really a matter of which word you feel is most appropriate as the antecedent of the relative pronounâ one or the plural noun in the of phrase that follows it. Note also that when the phrase containing one is introduced by the definite article, the verb in the relative clause must be singular: He is the only one of the students who has (not have) already taken Latin."

For what it's worth, heere are the Google search results for
"one of the few of that" and
"one of the few of who" in the BBC website only. If you consider only sentences in simple present , you will find both "have" and "has", "do" and "does" and so on.

EDITED: "wandering" is a typo for "wondering". My apologies.

Re: another question about wish and modals

CalifJim — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 17:06:33 GMT

I verified the Google results on I wish I had have and I wish I have had, and I must say that I was astonished.

In standard English the only possibilities after I wish (that) (with subject pronoun or noun) are would (with the bare infinitive), could (with the bare infinitive), had (with the past participle), and the simple past tense (including the special use of were with I, he, she, etc.).

Type 1. [I wish that they] would stop yelling.
Type 2. [I wish I] could afford a car like that.
Type 3. [I wish you] had bought that car when you had the chance.
Type 4. [I wish that I] lived in Scotland. [I wish my teacher] were/was smarter.

In standard English have had is impossible because no simple present or present perfect form ever occurs (correctly) after wish, not even the present tense forms of modals (can, will, shall, may, must); had have is impossible because it's not even one of the tenses of English!

The same four possibilities go for other subjects as well of course: He wishes, You wish, They wish, The students wish, etc.

CJ

Re: Inverted sentences

Ruslana — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 18:53:44 GMT

Hello, Janissary,

If a clause begins with a negative adverb, inverted word order must usually be used, with the subject following the Simple Present or Simple Past of the verb to be, or the first auxiliary. In the case of the Simple Present or Simple Past of any verb other than the verb to be, the auxiliary to do must be used. This construction is summarized below, followed by examples.

                                Simple form of
negative adverb    +   verb to be or    +   subject
or adverb phrase       first auxiliary

Never before                 was                      I            so eager to reach home.
Little                             did                     we            think we would meet again.
Seldom                         had                     they          tasted such a delicacy.

Following are other examples of this type of construction. The negative adverbs and adverb phrases are printed in bold type, and the subjects of the verbs are underlined.

Seldom was he at a loss for words.
Scarcely had we left the house, when it began to rain.
Not for many years was the true story known.
No sooner did the bell ring than the children ran out of the school.

In the first example, the subject he follows was, the Simple Past of the verb to be. In the succeeding examples, the subjects we, story and bell follow the auxiliaries had, was and did, respectively.

When used with a verb of motion, an adverb or adverb phrase of location may be placed at the beginning of a clause, followed immediately by the verb, followed by the noun subject of the verb. This construction is summarized below, followed by examples.

adverb phrase          verb of           noun
of location        + motion     +   subject

Up the hill              trundled          the train.
Here                    come              our friends.

If the subject of the verb is a personal pronoun, the subject must precede the verb, as illustrated below:

adverb phrase       pronoun        verb of
of location     +     subject     +   motion

Up the hill                  it               trundled.
Here                         they           come.

(From http://www.wordpower.ws/grammar/gramch24.html#2g2.)

Re: Correcting my grammar!!!

abbie1948 — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 09:46:05 GMT

Hello, Hemantchavan . I assume you wish us to correct the grammar in this letter, which I am happy to do. If you are trying to learn English, then it would be better not to use "text language" such as "how r u " You also need to pay attention to the use of capital letters after full stops, and for the personal pronoun "I". I am not going to re-write these simple errors, but I will highlight them so that you can begin to correct your own work.

You need to learn the use of the present continuous form of verbs. It is very common for people from the Indian sub-continent to misuse this form of the verb, and use it when simple present should be used.

Dear Friend,

Hello! How r u? I got your email today and i am glad to hear from you
I am doing well with my work in Pune. I went to Mumbai in May to meet my friend who is from the USA, and I stayed there for three days. We sped around in his car, which we enjoyed. Then I went to Hubli to meet my sister at her house and stayed for two days. everything was fine.

why did you leave your job in Bangalore? I thought you were interested in your work in Mumabi and even have a good salary. Am i right?

I think i will be coming to Bangalore in July. When i come to Bangalore, i will inform u by email.

Re: S

miriam — Tue, 03 Aug 2004 15:07:44 GMT

Hi, Melanie

You posted:
"i want to know if i start a sentence with "THE girls mean(or what ever word)" should i use an s after that word(mean/verb) or not."

"The" is an article in English, and it's an "invariable" word: you will use "the" with singular and plural nouns, and with feminine and masculine nouns, and also with mass and count nouns. The article does not determine subject-verb agreement.

In the sentence "The girls mean", "the girls" is the subject, and the most important word in the subject is the noun "girls". So, "girls" is what has to agree with the verb.
In order to see if you have to add an "s" to a verb in the simple present, you only need to find out which personal pronoun can replace "girls" (or "the girls").
The right pronoun is "they", so the form of the verb corresponding to "they" is used. You said verbs take an "s" only for "he", "she" and "it"... so here you don't use the "s".
"THe girls mean..." is correct.

If you said "the girl" (only one girl), the pronoun for that girl would be "she", so you wou;d need to add an "s" to the verb:
"The girl means..."

I hope this helps

Miriam

Re: Simple Present Negative

suzi — Mon, 15 Mar 2004 18:44:34 GMT

it is the same as your other question, really -

it is about the inflections we use on verb endings, we dont have many left in English, but we do still use ----s endings for the 3rd person singular from of a verb, and "it" is a 3rd person singular pronoun.