http://www.englishforums.com/search/pro.htm?q=user%3aguzhao67&o=DateDescendingSearch results for 'user:guzhao67'en-USXMOD (Build: 3607.32596)http://www.englishforums.com/English/WillPastProgressive/kwjdz/post.htmThu, 27 Aug 2009 17:29:58 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:877171guzhao67Hello; the following text was taken from a grammar book, and i can't see the point the author wanted to convey. "Other uses of the progressive aspect It may be used especially following the auxiliary will or shall with the special implication that the action will take place 'as a matter of course' in the future: I'll be seeing you next week. Note: 'The 'matter-of-course' implication of will or shall with the progressive is also found with other modal auxiliaries, and possibly also with the past progressive in conversational contexts; eg: I was talking to Anne, and she was telling me that the job is still vacant. In contrast to the simple past talked and told , the progressive here suggests a casual...http://www.englishforums.com/English/IWriteLetterTomorrowLondon-Tomorrow/kvzhk/post.htmTue, 11 Aug 2009 01:36:41 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:856436guzhao67hello, i have a question about present tense used to indicate future event as unalterable. we can say "I go to London tomorrow", but why not "I write you a letter tomorrow"? thankshttp://www.englishforums.com/English/IHopeWeatherFineTommorrow/kdpmx/post.htmSun, 09 Aug 2009 19:22:19 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:854502guzhao67hello, there; could you please explain the semantic difference between the following two sentences? "I hope the weather is fine tommorrow" and "I hope the weather will be fine tommorrow". Is there any difference between "is" in the first sentence and "is" in "tomorrow is Monday"? thank youhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/IWasBuildingAHouse/kcqxj/post.htmThu, 06 Aug 2009 13:39:39 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:849907guzhao67in the film Unforgiven , played by Clint Eastwood (1992), before the hero pulls the trigger to kill Little Bill, the latter (Little Bill) says:"please, I was building a house". My question is: semantically, is the house being built but not finished OR he wants to build a house but the plan is only in preparation and he doesn't begin building the house at all? thank youhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/TheMeaningSimpleSimpleTenseForm/hwjqn/post.htmTue, 30 Dec 2008 18:50:23 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:626837guzhao67Hi there: I have a question about the name of a grammatical term. In the "simple present" and the "simple past, (or the "simple tense forms"), what's the meaning of "simple"? does it mean "easy", or "mere"; or "plain", or whatever. in my opinion, the meaning should be the opposite of "compound", e.g; "mere". could you help me? thank youhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/InitionMiddlePositionRecently/hwgzq/post.htmMon, 29 Dec 2008 13:03:59 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:625786guzhao67Hi: could you please explain the difference between "Recently, John had arrived in Pontefract" and "John had recently arrived in Pontefract"? thank you.http://www.englishforums.com/English/QuestionUsedFutureContruction/hghhw/post.htmSat, 20 Dec 2008 20:09:24 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:616275guzhao67Hi there: how to interpret the meaning of "now" in this sentence: "My daughter will now play the clarinet for you". Does "now" in the sentence mean "at this moment"? by the way, Does the sentence convey a futurate reading? In my opinion, it does. But I don't understand why a future reading can be compitable with an adverbial expression ("now") indicating a present moment. could you help me? thank you. (another example: "I will fill out the form right now")http://www.englishforums.com/English/TheDifferenceBetween/hzxwz/post.htmWed, 17 Dec 2008 20:11:45 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:613399guzhao67Hi there: could you explain the use of "will be to" expression in the following paragraph: " our first task will be to locate and to describe the most common ....". Can we replace "will be to" by "will"? ("our first task will locate and describe ...") if we can, what's the difference between the two expressions? thank youhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/SimplePresentTense/hzrvz/post.htmTue, 09 Dec 2008 21:37:43 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:609285guzhao67Hi: there: it is said that the main function of the simple present tense is to describe"the constitution of things". But I can't see the exact meaning of the phrase "the constitution of things". could you please paraphrase it? does it mean "the order of nature"? if not, what's the difference. I know i'm being too demanding. excuse me.http://www.englishforums.com/English/HistoricPresent/hvvpl/post.htmFri, 05 Dec 2008 14:34:17 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:605721guzhao67Hi: could you explain why we in general don't say things like "Hitler loses the Second World War"? even if we consider this event as having lasting and actual significance. however, we usually say things like "COLUMBUS discovers America in 1492". Is there any tacit rules accounting for that? Thank youhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/SimplePresentTense/hvbgx/post.htmThu, 04 Dec 2008 14:57:24 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:604704guzhao67Hi there: i need your help. We use simple present tense to tell general truth. I don't understand the tense difference in the following sentence. "Fish live in water" and "oil will float on water". why the first sentence use simple present tense and second one use modal verb "will"? can we replace "will float" by "floats"?http://www.englishforums.com/English/TimelessPresent/hvbgm/post.htmThu, 04 Dec 2008 14:49:57 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:604702guzhao67HI: could you explain what the timeless present is, please? semantically speaking, does English have tenseless verbs? for example, "One plus one is two". Is "is" in the sentence tenseless? Anyway, the sentence refers to no specific time. in this case, how to interpret the tense meaning in relation to time? thank you.http://www.englishforums.com/English/ParaphraseDancerDance/hcljv/post.htmFri, 28 Nov 2008 16:03:25 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:597809guzhao67Normal 0 21 false false false FR ZH-CN X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 hi: I need your help. can someone paraphrase the following sentence please? "How can we know the dancer from the dance? "http://www.englishforums.com/English/TheMeaningOfAsEvenMore/hcdlw/post.htmWed, 26 Nov 2008 14:07:38 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:595535guzhao67Normal 0 21 false false false FR ZH-CN X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Hi: there: I need your help. could you tell me the meaning of "as even more" in the following sentence, please? But in poetry, as even more in film, we often do not know at all when the events are supposed to have taken or to be taking place. thank youhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/ThePresentTenseBookReview/hbppk/post.htmTue, 25 Nov 2008 11:45:22 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:594160guzhao67Hi: I have a question about the use of present tense in book review. my question is why book reviews are always written in present tense? while this is not the case in some other sort of writings, for example, essays. when authors make a citation, they could choose between past and present tense, such as "as Plato says/said, ..." Thank youhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/TenseChoiceReportingFilm-Content/hbcwh/post.htmFri, 21 Nov 2008 13:13:50 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:590281guzhao67Hi there: synposis for a film is always written in simple present tense. I'm not sure which tense should be used when reporting a film content after i've seen the film. thank you. by the way, is the simple present in synposis historic present?http://www.englishforums.com/English/PastTensePresentTenseReferringGreat-Works/hbrng/post.htmThu, 20 Nov 2008 10:06:34 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:589787guzhao67Hi there: I need your help. when citing some great person's famous remarks or ideas, past tense and present tense are both acceptable. for example; “Any meddling or changing over from one class to another’, says Plato, ‘is a great crime against the city and may rightly be denounced as the basest wickedness.”And we can replace "says" with "said". Right? But is there any difference between the tenses used in such citations? are we free to choose the verb tense or not? thank you very muchhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/TheMeaningDown/hrncl/post.htmMon, 17 Nov 2008 13:01:11 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:588449guzhao67Hi there, could you please tell me the meaning of "Two down, two to go". I found the expression from an image caption, and it goes like this:" Normal 0 21 false false false FR ZH-CN X-NONE "Two down, two to go - Zidane is on course for one of the most remarkable comebacks in history." I've copied down the image link for your reference. thank you ...http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentTenseComes/hrhbz/post.htmWed, 12 Nov 2008 04:38:17 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:586692guzhao67Hi there: How to interpret the use of Present Tense in "here comes the bus!" or "up we go!"? can we interpret the use as "instantaneous present"? But in my opinion, the coming of a bus" is not an instantaneous one, as the actions in boxing game, for example. thank youhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/SimplePresentTensePast-Tense/hrvrk/post.htmMon, 10 Nov 2008 02:46:18 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:585813guzhao67hi: I have a question about English tense. could you explain the use of tense in the following paragraph? (bold italic added) "In the 16th c. there are some traces of a perception that the word might have an extended application to other languages. But it was not before the 17 th c. that it became so completely a generic term that there was any need to speak explicitly of 'Latin grammar'." My question is: why does the first sentence use "are" while the others use Simple Past Tense when they both refer to past event? thank you!http://www.englishforums.com/English/LexicalSemanticsNoded/hrblj/post.htmSat, 08 Nov 2008 09:42:40 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:585132guzhao67Hi there: I have a question about lexical semantics. In the sentence "She noded", is the action "noded" interpreted as a single action or as an activity involving a sequence of nod? thank you.http://www.englishforums.com/English/SemanticDifferencesBetweenIdiomatic-Expressions/hrrzv/post.htmFri, 07 Nov 2008 06:22:25 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:584736guzhao67Hi: I don't see the difference between the following expressions, could you help me, thank you! I like to see you; I’d like to see you; I like seeing you; l’d like seeing you Normal 0 21 false false false FR ZH-CN X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4http://www.englishforums.com/English/PastProgressiveConversation/gqnwj/post.htmTue, 04 Nov 2008 17:37:12 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:583636guzhao67Hi there: it's difficult for me to find an explanation of one common application of the past progressive in conversation, such as: "I was recently reading about an invention which may turn garbage into soil" OR "Paula was saying that Eddie was going to be promoted." Could you explain the semantic content and grammatical function of past progressive in these two sentences here? thank you very much.http://www.englishforums.com/English/SubjectVerbAgreementQualifiers-UncountableNounsWordAnd/gqlww/post.htm#583066Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:03:41 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:583066guzhao67i'm not a teacher. Perhaps form the viewpoint of the author, "too much traffic and pollution" is one problem, because "traffic" and "pollution" are two closely related phenomena.http://www.englishforums.com/English/TheAmbiguitySpeakingOclock/gqjdd/post.htm#582666Sat, 01 Nov 2008 23:02:14 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:582666guzhao67the sentence was taken from a grammar book dealing with past perfect. I thought past perfect was only used to indicate earlier state or event in relation to present perfect, but i now see, thanks to the examples given by Philip, i have ignored that it can also be used to indicate earlier event in relation to simple past. thank you.http://www.englishforums.com/English/TheAmbiguitySpeakingOclock/gqjdd/post.htmSat, 01 Nov 2008 00:21:01 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:582389guzhao67Hi: could you explain why the following sentence is ambiguous? "I had been speaking to her at 4 O'olock". thank youhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/UsePresentPastTenseRelation-HistoricalEventTruth/gqwmj/post.htmFri, 31 Oct 2008 15:32:50 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:582259guzhao67Hi everyone, I learn that Simple Present Tense is used to express general truth, and Simple Past Tense historical event. But for me, sometimes it's hard to draw a clearcut line between truth and historical event. For example, we say "1921 is in the 20th century". On the other hand, the year 1921 has passed. If we treat the sentence as general truth, can we say "Tobacco is brought to England by Sir Walter Raleigh".? The statement is a historical event, but it is true, just as "1921 is in the 20th century". thank you.http://www.englishforums.com/English/HowInterpretOpenedParcelHalfHour/gqhcr/post.htmThu, 30 Oct 2008 13:32:15 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:581791guzhao67"Kim opened the parcel for half an hour". does the sentence mean "kim spent half an hour opening the parcel?"http://www.englishforums.com/English/BackshiftingIndirectSpeechVerbs-Communication/gqzwv/post.htmWed, 29 Oct 2008 05:14:18 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:581319guzhao67Hi there: I learn from a grammar book that a small set of verbs of communication such as "tell", "say" and "hear" can be used in simple present tense even though the act of telling, saying or hearing happened in the past. for example, "Bill tells me you are moving to Sydney". according to the book, Bill's telling me was in fact in past time, but we're more concerned with the content of Bill's telling rather than Bill's act of communication. and thus the simple present form "tells" is not ungrammatical here. But in the subsequent part of the book, when dealing with backshifting in indirect reported speech, i found two examples which seem to contradict to the above cited...http://www.englishforums.com/English/SimplePastTensePresentPerfect/gqdhd/post.htmMon, 27 Oct 2008 15:25:41 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:580723guzhao67Hello, everyone: I don't understand the following paragraph, cited from a grammar book, could you help me please? "there is an idiomatic exception to the rule that the simple past tense indicates definite meaning: this is the construction with "always" illustrated by "I always said he would end up in jail; Timothy always was a man of peace". it is simply a colloquial variant of the present perfect with 'state verbs', and can always be replaced by the equivalent present perfect form. there are equivalent question and negative forms with "ever" and "never": "Did you ever see such a mess? I never met such an important person before." what's the point here? And what would...http://www.englishforums.com/English/InterpretiveProgressive/gqbzr/post.htmSat, 25 Oct 2008 14:34:33 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:580108guzhao67Hello: everyone I have a question about the English progressive form. In the following two conversation examples, which one is more appropriate and why? Example1: "Were you lying when you said that?" "No, I was telling the truth" Example2: "Were you lying when you said that?" "No, I told the truth" If both sentences are acceptable, what's the difference between them? thank you.http://www.englishforums.com/English/PerformativeUtterance/gpqcc/post.htmThu, 23 Oct 2008 19:34:20 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:579481guzhao67I've read in a grammar book that the phrase "you're fired!" is used more often in comic-strips than in real life. The book doesn't offer a more detailed explanation. It simply says that the passive form of performative verbs is rarely used and gives only one example, as cited above. could you help me, please? thank you.http://www.englishforums.com/English/EmbeddedPresentTenseUnderPast-Tense/gpnlm/post.htmTue, 21 Oct 2008 22:53:21 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:578777guzhao67Hi: Could you explain why the present tense ("lives") is used in the embedded that-clause in the following sentence: "In 1862, A. Lincoln said that he would free any slave that lives in the South. " Thank you.http://www.englishforums.com/English/TenseShiftInConversations/gpmwr/post.htm#578571Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:11:04 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:578571guzhao67Hi there: you are great! CalifJim. I've known this forum for only a few days, but I've learnt a lot. Thank you.http://www.englishforums.com/English/TenseShiftInConversations/gpmwr/post.htm#578453Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:16:59 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:578453guzhao67hi: i'm not the person posting the question. I don't understand why the past tense here won't cause confusion; if the parents are still alive, why don't we use present tense instead? if both tenses are correct, which usage is more popular? If the parents were dead, how the sentence would be changed? i'm sorry to have lots of "whys", but i'm always confused by english tense questions, especially tense shift; I just don't understand why tense shift if we could express the same idea without shifting the tense.http://www.englishforums.com/English/PastTensePolitenessTentativeness/gpmhx/post.htmMon, 20 Oct 2008 23:10:51 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:578422guzhao67could you please explain the difference between "I wondered whether you could help me?", "I had wondered whether you could help me?" and "I was wondering whether you could help me?" All these phrases can be used in present situations to ask for sb's help in a polite way. what's the difference? which one is the commonest expression?