By Tenses, Direct questions

Only one s in present!!! You can't use will with the stative verbs in this construction: } _______Your example with make sure does not belong to the pattern above. There's no indirect question.Make sure (that) you come back soon.A make sure that pattern is not followed by a future...

Hi, N2G,Besides in indirect questions (the examples previously given), if + will works also to indicate volition (or refusal in its negative form, "if + won't" ) or insistence, and, yes, it can be used at the beginning of a sentence. Here are the links to some other threads where...

I know 'would' carries many meanings. My problem is sometimes I find it difficult to tell which meaning the speaker uses. I think I understand its hypothetical usage, and in some contexts, its politeness usage. Below is a post that has several woulds I have trouble interpreting. I also...

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all for your replying to my stupid question. I really appreciate it. Hi Anon, In contrary, I don’t think your question is stupid. It brings up an issue that has stirred many good discussions in this forum and elsewhere. Here is an extracted text that...

Mountain wrote:Sometimes when I want to ask my friend who he had for the last semester but I'm not certain which to use."Who did you have for *** last semester?" Should it be had instead of have? No But had didn't sound right to me. Good. The word did is the word that establishes the simple past...

Yankee wrote:I agree with Goodman but would like to add that this word order would also be very common:I was wondering what the difference between a planet and a star was / is. Hi allStrictly speaking, this is the only grammatically correct sentence but I accept all the others as well because...

I already asked whether someone (anyone) studies (is studying) generative grammar. I have some questions concerning excercises taken from a book. I do not want to ask my Prof. if everything is correct or not. There will be lots of questions, and I´m going to ask all of them. I would be very...

Was there anything else that needs explaining? fits into the category of the "past of politeness", in my opinion. It is less direct than Is there anything else that needs explaining?, though it means the same thing. This is a common formula where the direct question in the present tense...

I've recently learned that the future tense should rarely be used in a "when" or other clause indicating the future The objection to future tense with when (and other subordinating conjunctions of time) only applies to the case where when introduces a subordinate clause (adverbial clause of...

Is my use of the indirect question ok? What about the last verb 'win'? Is the tense ok? Thank you When asked what they are going to spend their money on, most people usually say that they would like to spend it on the trip around the world or on shorter trips, depending on the amount of money...