Search results for 'tag:Verbs tag:Present tenses' matching tags 'Verbs' and 'Present tenses'

Pigeon roosting problem - past or present tense?

Peaceblinkfriend — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:37:04 GMT

Hi all,

If you are describing to your friend about how pigeons would roost on the window ledges at the place where you lived, would you use the past tense of the verb 'roosted' or the present tense, 'roost'? Supposing there are still pigeons roosting on the window ledges where you used to live.

"Pigeons roosted on the window ledge. And I'm talking about the window in my room. Can you believe it?"
"Pigeons roost on the window ledge. And I'm talking about the window in my room. Can you believe it? "

Thanks

PBF

Reporting ''You have got to buy that book. It's a real page-turner.''

Peaceblinkfriend — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:31:48 GMT

Hi all

''You have got to buy that book. It's a real page-turner.''

He said (that) I had to buy that book and that it is a real page-turner.

Does this report structure sound natural to you? I have used the present tense for the second verb in the reported clause to put emphasis on the fact that the book is still a 'real page-turner'. Would you say it is necessary to do so? Lastly, is it considered good style to use two different tenses in a reported clause?

Thank you

PBF

Re: hope and sorry

CalifJim — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:15:23 GMT

Anonymous
Can a past tense follow the word 'hope'?
I hope you had a great time at the beach last week.

Yes. That's a frequent combination.

Anonymous
Can a present tense be used after the word 'sorry' eventhough the event for it has not occurred yet?

In some cases this is possible, but not in general. You would typically have some sort of modal verb there.

I'm sorry you are leaving us so soon.

I'm sorry you have to have such a serious operation next month.

I'm sorry you can't attend the party tonight.

Re: sing and improve

Mister Micawber — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:34:38 GMT

.
No.

She can sing. -- 'sing' is base form; the inflected verb is 'can' (which does not take 's')

It really improves.-- OK. 'It' is 3rd person singular, so the verb is 'improves'.

It will be a pleasure to see you in Las Vegas.-- Only the verb would take '-s', if the sentence were in present tense: 'It is a pleasure...'

Re: Let's see who finishes/will finish first.

CalifJim — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:03:49 GMT

Only one s in present!!!

You can't use will with the stative verbs in this construction: [Let's see / Let me know / Tell me] plus an indirect question. I would not call these relative clauses.

to finish first - an action.

how you are - a state - not an action.

get there first - same as arrive first - an action.

you think - an internal activity; having an opinion - not an action.

_______

Thus, with the indirect question in brackets { }, ungrammatical choices prefixed with asterisk *:

[Let's see / Let me know / Tell me] {who [finishes / will finish / gets there / will get there] first}.

[Let's see / Let me know / Tell me] {how [you are / *you will be / what you think / *what you will think]}

_______

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 (will).

______

You can save yourself a lot of headaches by using the present tense for all of these. Even in cases where will is possible, it's almost always the inferior choice.

"He "says" that he is busy now." Is this sentence correct?

Viceidol — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:37:37 GMT

My grammar book tells me that "present tense" usually cannot be used to represent "one-time action happens in the present time". For example, "He sleeps in bed" doesn't necessarily mean that he is sleeping in bed right now (present action).

But I saw these sentences:

He says that he is busy now.
He says that he will be busy tomorrow.
He says that he has been busy recently.
He says that he was busy yesterday.

Those sentences are examples from one of my grammar books. They are used to explain "the sequence of tenses". I think the verb "says" is somewhat strange here. If they are correct in using present tense, what do those sentences mean? Do they mean that "he is saying..." or other? My concept is that present tense is used to refer to "present states", not "present actions". So I'm very confused with this case. Could you please tell me why they use present tense here? Thank you very much!!

The question about "in case" and tense

Viceidol — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:51:07 GMT

Hello, everyone. I learned from my grammar book that we often use present tense to refer to future in "in case-clause". Like:

I always take an umbrella in case it rains.

I've bought a chicken in case your mother stays to lunch.

In those cases, I found that all the verbs in main clauses are tenses refer to "present". But what if they are "past tense"? I saw several examples in my grammar books:

1. I wrote down her address in case I should forget it. (What change should I make with the "forget" if I don't use "should" in this example?)

2. We took our swimming suits in case we should find a pool. (What change should I make with the "find" if I don't use "should" in this example?)

3. He left early in case he should miss the last train. (What change should I make with the "miss" if I don't use "should" in this example?)

4. In case the wall should collapse, they evacuated the building. (What change should I make with the "evacuate" if I don't use "should" in this example?)

I think, for those cases, we should use "past tense" in those cases even though the main clause has a past verb. Because I saw this sentences in another book:

5. Doctors and nerses remained above ground while police patrolled the streets in case anyone tried to leave the shelters too soon.(I think the "tried" can be replaced by "should try", am I right?)

Please tell me if I can use present tense in those occations. Thank you very much.

Re: "If it will help" and "If it rains tomorrow"?

CalifJim — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 07:00:04 GMT

Viceidol
If it will help, I'll lend you some money.
I'll give you 100 dollars if it will help you go on holiday.

This often happens with the verb help. In my opinion, it's an abbreviated form of If you think that it will help, which is an if-clause in the present tense. (think is in the present tense.) The it will help part is therefore actually an implied subordinate clause.

The same doesn't work for most other verbs. You have to say "you think" explicitly in those cases. So either of these is possible:

If it rains tomorrow, I'll stay at home.

If you think that it will rain tomorrow, I'll stay at home.

Note, however, that while the person you speak to is in a better position than you to know if something will help him, he is not in any better position than you to know whether it is going to rain the next day. So that's why it's reasonable to say you'll do something if it rains, but less reasonable to do so just because someone thinks it will rain. And conversely, it's reasonable to say you'll do something if it helps OR if someone thinks it will help.

Re: The description of my job

Mister Micawber — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:43:50 GMT

.
I have underlined some problem areas, Oliver:

Nowadays, most big and advanced factories need more equipments, less workers. So a new vocation brought out for the managers to control so many machines with few labours, we called ~~the~~ new line-Automatic project control.

We use automatic control system mostly in iron works, where there are ~~lots of~~ huge machines which are hardly operated by manpower, and sometimes itâs not convenient for workers to control the big machines just beside them, as the long distance between control center and the ~~spot where the~~ machines location will take jockey so much time. For solve this problem, we begin to try to use a new system, which include industrial computer, low-tension apparatus, relay, switch, transformer, and the main part~~-we~~ called it PLC (Programmable Logic Controller). By the industrial drawing software we can add all the machines need to be operated on the screen of a computer, and their location on screen is accord to the actual location outside. After completeing the drawing, we distribute a memory address of database to each unit displayed on screen, and then we ~~will go on and~~ edit the programme on the computer and download it into the CPU of PLC. Finally, we ~~will~~ connect all the computers and PLCs by Industrial Ethernet or Profibus. Thus, we have set up the whole control system, and the programme which control all the machines could ~~absolute~~ run automatically. The worker can operate one of the machines individually by just double-click on the screen, and most of the time, he can leave computers take their course ~~by themselves~~. If we can disregard the failure of control-apparatus, ~~it will be enough for~~ only one person can sit in the center control room, and the only thing what to do for him is ~~just~~ cleaning. With the nicer condition of machines outside, we can finish a control system as complicated as the one which used in a medium-sized iron works (about 450 steres) within fifteen days by three engineers. We are trying to serve the clients (the managers of factories mostly) with the most beautiful pictures and unimpeachable program.

What happens in iron works? [Put all your verbs below in present tense]

1. Plenty of coke and iron ore is send to the mouth of the furnace, there, the material passed ~~first jaws-we called~~ upper cover and got into the medium part of the furnace, and then, they went on passed the ~~second jaws-we called~~ nether cover and got into the abdomen of furnace. The action of the two jawses is separate the harmful gas from the air by alternate opening.

2. Hold by the strong press of the flaming air from dozen of meatus placed into the furnace, the material began to melt together in the air, and ~~at the first time to see that I even could not believe~~ the material can step to melting in a floating state~~!!!~~

3. The coke was burned out inside the furnace and turned into carbon monoxide. The gas passed through a pipeline and went into a gravitational dust catcher, where the bigger granules were filtrated off.

4. Then, the gas come to other dust catch system, we called hop-pocket dust cacther, where almost all impurity were filtrated off.

5. In the end, the gas entered heat air stove (maybe itâs called blast stove in USA), and was heated up to a high temperature about 1500 Celsius. With the big air pressure made by several huge fans outside, the gas was sent to the twelve meatus we mentioned above. And hereto, we have toured through an orbicular circulation fully.

The melting material become to melton iron gradually and flowed out from a confined exit. Generally, if there are copulate steel-making workshops, the melton iron will be sent to those workshops directly and be made into steel there. If there no workshops ~~like that,~~ the melton iron will be moulded into rion blocks at normal temperature, and carried to other places to remade into steel.

We mainly use ~~the~~ products and softwares from SIEMENS and GE corporation. We look forward to use our native products.

Re: Grammar Suggestion

Mr Wordy — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:47:10 GMT

Hi Cute572

1. Sitting at my writing desk and working on my assignment, I become captivated by the soft evening rays, pouring in through the side window and gently covering my sheet in their yellow and orange shades.

"Become" is fine (if you've decided that you want to write the sentence in the present tense).

2. The evening rays, entering through the window, casting a gradient colors [or look?] to my smooth carpet.

The commas are OK, but there is no main verb, and this is not a proper sentence. The prepositions in the last part of the sentence also need fixing. You might say:

The evening rays, entering through the window, cast a gradient of colors on my smooth carpet.

Now "cast" is the main verb.