Timeline for Verb tense Usage
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Mar 21, 2018 at 23:24 | comment | added | JBH | @RonaldSole, that example is ungrammatical and a verbal colloquialism. You can't technically know what he "says" until he said it to you sometime before. Therefore, the sentence should read, "He said he saw the sky...," or you need to use a technical word with that has a context of the past, "It is his testimony that he saw...." If you believe me wrong, perhaps you should post your own answer? | |
| Mar 21, 2018 at 23:17 | comment | added | Ronald Sole | @Rhendril There is no rule in English that outlaws the use of several tenses in the same sentence. He says he saw the sky turn gray as he was cycling home after he had finished school. | |
| Mar 21, 2018 at 23:12 | comment | added | Ronald Sole | @JBH Apologies. My comment was directed at the OP | |
| Mar 21, 2018 at 23:10 | comment | added | Rhendril | I understand what you mean by context. However, can you explain why I can use "become", a simple tense verb, in conjunction with "saw," a simple past tense verb and still be grammatically correct for "I saw the sky become clearer and clearer"? | |
| Mar 21, 2018 at 23:07 | comment | added | JBH | @RonaldSole, are you talking to me or the OP? I used the examples the OP provided. Considering he claims the phrases are idiomatic in his experience, providing him with a completely different idiom, no matter how similar in meaning, fails utterly to answer his question. | |
| Mar 21, 2018 at 22:38 | comment | added | Ronald Sole | It might help if you take similar but much simpler examples using the same construction, such as: I saw him come closer; I saw him coming closer; I saw he was coming closer. All are grammatical and say much the same thing. The first uses the infinitive, the second the gerund and the third a noun clause as object. | |
| Mar 21, 2018 at 21:53 | comment | added | JBH | That's the problem. All three examples are grammatically correct so long as the context surrounding their use matches what you're trying to say. They are NOT interchangeable. Each example is a different way of looking at past events. That's what I tried to explain in my answer. | |
| Mar 21, 2018 at 21:44 | comment | added | Rhendril | My question is more focused on whether or not the verb tense used is grammatically correct regardless of the diction. For the first one, say it is "I saw the sky become clearer and clearer." Why is it that I can use become, a simple tense verb, in conjunction with "saw," a simple past tense verb? | |
| Mar 21, 2018 at 17:46 | history | answered | JBH | CC BY-SA 3.0 |