Search results for 'tag:Writing letters tag:Past tenses' matching tags 'Writing letters' and 'Past tenses'

Re: Some confused english grammar problems...

MIA6 — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 17:34:12 GMT

Thanks for your replying, but I have some questions about them:

I have been writing letters all morning.

This says what activity you were involved with all morning, that is, during the entire morning. It is still morning and you may still be writing letters or you may have decided to stop now. In either case, the sentence just says what activity you were involved with up until this moment of speaking. Here you used "you were involved...",you used past tense,so i am not sure what are you trying to say.

I have been writing six letters all morning.

This is a strange sentence. It says the activity you were involved with was the writing of six letters. It gives the distinct impression that you were working on all six at the same time. I envision you stopping one letter for a while and writing part of another, then stopping that letter and working on one of the others, and so on, and continuing from one to another all morning. Here you used "you were involved...","you were working on..." you used past tense, so you mean i have done six letters?

Re: Some confused english grammar problems...

Demetrius — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 12:20:44 GMT

CalifJim has written an excellent summary here. May I just add a couple of observations of my own.

CalifJim wrote:
You may be driving yourself crazy trying to make every sentence with a present perfect tense fit into one those three categories!

I have written six letters this morning.

This means that during the morning you finished the task of writing six letters. You are not still writing the sixth letter. You are not writing anymore. You are now just sitting there, perhaps, looking at what you have accomplished during the morning and you see the six letters on the desk. You are saying where you stand with respect to letter-writing at this very moment. You are saying that at this moment you have six letters before you, all written.

I think it's important to make it clear here that we should only use the above sentence in the present perfect tense if it is still "this morning". In other words, there must remain the potential for me to write more letters this morning. If it is now evening, I must say "I wrote six letters this morning" (in the imperfect tense) because I cannot now write more. This is the 'present' element of the present perfect tense: it is "this morning" now, when I say it. The 'past' element (and it is a past tense despite what some confusingly claim) is that the writing was done in the past, and is now finished (present perfect) or continuing (present perfect progressive).

CalifJim wrote:

I have been writing letters all morning.

This says what activity you were involved with all morning, that is, during the entire morning. It is still morning and you may still be writing letters or you may have decided to stop now. In either case, the sentence just says what activity you were involved with up until this moment of speaking.

This is the present perfect progressive tense, and it is subtly different. As Jim says, the letter-writing started in the past, but I am implying that it may still be continuing. Again I can only say this sentence this morning, not this evening, because I am referring to this morning as the time I write the sentence (not the letters).

CalifJim wrote:

It's easy to see how this topic can become very confusing!

It would be better to ask shorter questions by dividing this up into several posts.

CJ

Some Phrases about time.

MIA6 — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 21:00:23 GMT

I have some problems,they are the phrases about time: yet, today, so far, to date, up to now, recently, lately, up to these few days, this morning, now, up to present. what do they mean? Are some of them duration? Do some of them represent sometime/some time in the past? yet: 1.up to the present time 2. at this time, for the present. so here what does up to the present time mean? does that mean from the past to now,include now this moment Or some time before now this moment? i think so far, to date, up to now, up to present have the same meaning. if they mean from the past to now,include now this moment, so they are duration. I hope you can tell me the meanings of every phrase i gave you, if you know their usages, like what kind of sentence i can put them in it, i hope you also can tell me the usages of them. Thanks.

So if so far, to date.... are durations, then we can use those phrases in the sentence of present perfect tense. just like I have seen six people so far. it means i saw six people,and still looking at six people now Or it is like from the past,i saw 5 people, and i am now looking at the sixth person Or it means i saw six people before.(because i heard my teacher also use so far in the past tense,so i am not sure if so far means from the past to now this moment) Sometimes i am confused about the usage of present perfect tense is Actions which started in the past and are still continuing. just like I have eaten chicken for half an hour, it means i ate it in the past, and still eating now. but if i say I have written letterS for 2 hours. does it mean I wrote letterS at the same time in the past and still writing THEM now for 2 hours?(i think you have no able to write 2 letters or 3 letters at the same time, we only can write one letter once,and then write another letter.) Or it means i wrote letters before (not the same time),and i am now still writing letter(no "s")? How about this: I have seen six people for 1 hour, does it mean i saw six people at the same time in the past, and still looking at them now Or I saw 5 people before,and i am now looking at the sixth person? So my point is sometimes if the objective noun is plural in a present perfect tense sentence and it means Actions which started in the past and are still continuing, how can we understand it? we understand we did them in the same time,and now still doing them?or we need to according to the daily experience,just like I have written letters for 2 hours, we won't write letters at the same time, we only write one letter once,and then write another letter,so it may not mean i wrote letterS in the past,and still writing THEM now.

I really hope all of you who see this post can answer my questions, guide me to the correct direction. Thanks a lot.

Re: Tense meaning

hela — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 20:51:13 GMT

Dear CalifJim,

I'd like to clarify one point in your answer. You told me that in the PAST TENSE an adverbial of DURATION works more with the SIMPLE form of the verb, whether in the PRESENT TENSE it works better with the PROGRESSIVE form of the verb, is that so?

ex1: We WATCHED tv ALL NIGHT.
We WERE WATCHING tv AT 10 o'clock last night. (AT = adverbial of point in time)

ex2: It RAINED ALL DAY.
It was raining WHEN I went to bed. / When I woke up it was raining.

ex3: I WROTE letters ALL morning.
I WAS WRITING letters WHEN the phone rang. (WHEN = point in time)

but:

ex4: a) It has rained ALL NIGHT.
b) It HAS BEEN RAINING all night. [b) is better than a) ? but is a) OK?]

Thank you very much for your help.
Best regards,
Hela

Re: Tense & meaning

CalifJim — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 05:21:17 GMT

The most natural are 1a, 2a, 3b, 4a, 5a. 2b is incorrect. An adverbial indicating a point in time ("when I was cutting onions") is incompatible with the perfect aspect. ["while I was cutting onions" is more idiomatic, but also impossible in this sentence.]

With the past tense ( Example 1 ) adverbials of duration (all night, all day, all morning, for a long time) are most natural with the non-progressive of a verb which expresses an activity. [All your examples are examples of activities.] On the other hand, adverbials of a point in time are most natural with the progressive.

We watched TV all night. We were watching TV at 10 o'clock last night.
It rained all day. It was raining when I went to bed. When I woke up it was raining.
I wrote letters all morning. I was writing letters when the phone rang.

With perfect aspect (All but Example 1) the non-progressive focuses on achievement rather than activity. To retain the idea of activity, the progressive is applied. The progressive aspect in this context is more compatible with adverbials of duration. The present perfect progressive is typically used when some activity has been taking place up to the present moment and the focus is on the current relevance of that activity.

It's been raining all night. (That's why the pavement is wet this morning.)
It has rained twice this week. (That's the current state of the weather for this week. In a strange way, this is an "achievement" for nature, I suppose! In any case the focus is not on the "activity" of raining in this sentence.)

I've been writing letters all morning. [It must still be morning to say this! Note the focus on activity.]
I've already written three letters this morning. [It must still be morning to say this. Note the focus on achievement.]
I was writing letters at 10:30 this morning. [It need not still be morning to say this. Typically it is not still morning when this is said.]
I wrote letters all morning. [In the typical use it is not still morning when this is said.]
I wrote a letter this morning. [Here the change to singular changes an activity (letter writing) into an achievement (the completion of the writing of a single letter).]

I've been cutting onions ("continuously until now" implied). That's why my eyes are red ("now" implied). I have cut the onions ("sometime before now" implied; "they are currently in the state of being cut" implied). (They are ready to add to the stew.("now" implied.))

In the paper reading example, the speaker questions what activity caused the current state of affairs, namely, that the newspaper is messed up. The focus would not normally be on the "achievement" of messing up the paper, nor on the "achievement" of reading the paper, but rather on the "activities" of reading, and consequently messing up, the paper.

CJ

Search results for 'tag:Writing letters tag:Past tenses' matching tags 'Writing letters' and 'Past tenses'

Re: Some confused english grammar problems...

Re: Some confused english grammar problems...

Some Phrases about time.

Re: Tense meaning

Re: Tense &amp; meaning

Re: Tense & meaning