Timeline for verb tense shift allowed when "never" or "ever" is used
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
17 events
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| Feb 27, 2020 at 18:39 | history | edited | Jan | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 27, 2020 at 18:25 | comment | added | puppetsock | Urk! "I went on safari. We slept in tents out in the wilderness. And one night I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know." Did Groucho Marx live in vain? | |
| Feb 27, 2020 at 18:23 | comment | added | Jan | @puppetsock, I think it's fine, only you could avoid repeating "I was", so I was tricked a few times while shopping at ABC. I think it's grammatically correct: it's an action in past progressive interrupted few times by an action in past simple. Anyway, what's a "pajama sentence'" | |
| Feb 27, 2020 at 18:19 | comment | added | puppetsock | Not if you mean it to indicate only a single shopping trip. I think all the examples are fairly awkward, and I'd rewrite the whole thing. | |
| Feb 27, 2020 at 18:18 | comment | added | Jan | @puppetsock, so, is there a problem with it? | |
| Feb 27, 2020 at 18:16 | comment | added | puppetsock | Yes. I was tricked a few times while I was shopping at ABC. It seems to say that, during the single time shopping at ABC, I was tricked a few times. | |
| Feb 27, 2020 at 18:15 | comment | added | Jan | @puppetsock, I'm not sure if I understand you. Are you referring to this: 3) I was tricked a few times while I was shopping at ABC. ? | |
| Feb 27, 2020 at 18:13 | comment | added | puppetsock | Example 3 is a "pajamas" sentence. ("How he got in my pajamas I'll never know.") It seems to say that, during this single time I was shopping at ABC, I got tricked several times. | |
| Feb 27, 2020 at 17:37 | history | edited | Jan | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 27, 2020 at 17:32 | comment | added | Jan | I expanded the answer to show that in the 5 example sentences the problem is not in "never" or "ever" but in sentences that contain clauses in past progressive tense that start with "while" and mixing them with clauses in other tenses. I still believe only 3 is correct. | |
| Feb 27, 2020 at 17:29 | history | edited | Jan | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 27, 2020 at 17:20 | history | edited | Jan | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 27, 2020 at 17:13 | history | edited | Jan | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 27, 2020 at 16:57 | history | edited | Jan | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 27, 2020 at 16:28 | comment | added | John Doe | I disagree with your assessment that only 3) is correct, and you didn't answer what (it seems like) the root of the question was: the nature of the difference between "ever" and "never". | |
| Feb 27, 2020 at 10:19 | history | edited | Jan | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 27, 2020 at 10:08 | history | answered | Jan | CC BY-SA 4.0 |