Timeline for what's the tense of how about going?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Dec 28, 2018 at 19:15 | comment | added | Lambie | @Tᴚoɯɐuo Yes, it is. An idea about a near-future not using any tense. Going to the movies is a noun phrase. playing tennis,staying home, whatever. Going to a movie [noun phrase with the gerund going] is a good idea. You misinterpreted it. | |
| Dec 28, 2018 at 19:12 | comment | added | TimR | @Lambie: You wrote: "For me, the idea with the gerund is alwayssomething that is to come, not something that has been or was." | |
| Dec 28, 2018 at 19:09 | comment | added | TimR | @Lambie: I think you're allowing the prospective sense of how about and the frequent association of going with future contexts to improperly influence your understanding here. There's no problem with the past tense: google.com/… | |
| Dec 28, 2018 at 18:10 | comment | added | Lambie | @Tᴚoɯɐuo I disagree with you on this issue. Let's leave it. I said it would be shortened and the objection would be in the next utterance, if this were a past event.That is my opinion. For me, the idea with the gerund is alwayssomething that is to come, not something that has been or was. I would teach it like that too, as future directed. | |
| Dec 28, 2018 at 17:16 | comment | added | TimR | @Lambie: There are plenty of contexts where the complement of how about would not be shortened to a simple noun phrase like "the windows". A parent could be haranguing a teen, say, about all the things he or she had failed to do. How about closing the windows when you got home.... how about taking the dog for a walk while we were away ... how about emptying the dishwasher before we got home .... and so on. | |
| Dec 28, 2018 at 16:37 | comment | added | TimR | @Lambie: That's just you. How about closing the windows? Did you think to do that when it started to rain? | |
| Dec 28, 2018 at 15:00 | comment | added | Gary Botnovcan | Another set of examples: I was going to see her. I am going to see her. I will be going to see her. That's the exact phrase in question, in past, present, and future tense constructions. The -ing form marks a continuous or progressive aspect, but it takes another verb in the construction to mark tense. | |
| Dec 28, 2018 at 14:09 | history | answered | TimR | CC BY-SA 4.0 |