Timeline for I ___(to read) your book. It's fantastic. I'll finish it tonight
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
16 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 20, 2023 at 8:23 | comment | added | Kate Bunting | @NiccoloM. - The first means that I have recently spent time reading it; the second means that I am currently reading it. Only the context shows whether I am reading at this moment, or whether I mean that I haven't yet finished it. | |
| Jun 20, 2023 at 5:54 | comment | added | Niccolo M. | What's the difference between "I've been reading your book" and "I'm reading your book"? | |
| Jun 19, 2023 at 18:37 | comment | added | Phaenomenon Sanctus | @stan yeah, it's kinda true.. In my native language, Russian, there is no chance you can get confused with tenses. But when you start learning English, you have so much difficulties even just at the stage of logical understanding | |
| Jun 19, 2023 at 15:24 | history | edited | Martha | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
addressing the other possible meaning of "read"
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| Jun 19, 2023 at 11:30 | comment | added | stan | This whole thread just makes me, as a native speaker, amazed that I can naturally, automatically, distinguish /riːd/ and /red/ without even thinking about it or even knowing the rules of why it's one way or the other. Wow, English sucks to learn as a second language. | |
| Jun 18, 2023 at 17:49 | comment | added | Phaenomenon Sanctus | @PeterShor never thought about that, make more sense now! thanks! | |
| Jun 18, 2023 at 14:40 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @PhaenomenonSanctus: I read (/ri:d/) your book every day, works fine as a sentence in English, if this is a habitual action. That is, if this is a book that you read every day and will keep reading every day for the foreseeable future. But if you're going to finish it tonight, you will presumably stop reading it after you finish it, so it doesn't count as a habitual action, and present simple is ungrammatical. | |
| Jun 18, 2023 at 13:46 | comment | added | Sophie Swett | @PhaenomenonSanctus "But since there are none, it is unclear which tense we are talking about, so we have to choose based on what is clear." – I would disagree with that. The fact that "I read (present tense) your book" is written the same way as "I read (past tense) your book" is one of the reasons, but it's not the main reason. The main reason is that the present tense doesn't make much sense here, as Mari-Lou's answer explains. | |
| Jun 18, 2023 at 9:21 | comment | added | Kate Bunting | If you say that you have read a book, it is understood to mean that you have read all of it (regardless of other senses of 'read'). | |
| Jun 18, 2023 at 4:38 | comment | added | Quack E. Duck | @PhaenomenonSanctus The simple present would not be idiomatic either - as tchrist noted, the context would require the present continuous. That's because the simple present used on its own in that sentence would imply a habit rather than a specific action. Compare, "I often read your book" or "I read blog posts weekly." In the example conversation from your question, it would be odd if the speaker were saying they were in the habit of reading the particular book which they will finish tonight. | |
| Jun 18, 2023 at 4:23 | comment | added | Phaenomenon Sanctus | @QuackE.Duck Oh, I get it now. If there were any markers of the Present Simple tense in the sentence, then the 'read' would be correct. But since there are none, it is unclear which tense we are talking about, so we have to choose based on what is clear. And that is 'have been reading'. Is that a right logic? | |
| Jun 18, 2023 at 4:13 | comment | added | Mari-Lou A | Option 2 doesn't tell us if it's the simple past of the verb "read" /red/ e.g "I read Animal Farm in one day" or the present simple /ri:d/ as in "I read every day" The OP is asking why the answer is not in the present simple. | |
| Jun 18, 2023 at 4:09 | comment | added | Quack E. Duck | @PhaenomenonSanctus You're correct that the word 'read' can be present tense, but it can also be the simple past form (they look identical even though they're pronounced differently). Martha's answer is from the perspective of assuming that 'read' is the simple past, and tchrist's comment addresses your question about if it's the simple present. | |
| Jun 18, 2023 at 3:28 | comment | added | Phaenomenon Sanctus | But 'read' doesn't imply finishing reading. I engage in the process of reading on a regular basis, little by little, for example, every evening before bed. If I wanted to emphasize that I have actually finished reading the book, I would have chosen the Present Perfect tense, which directly conflicts with the phrase 'I'll finish it tonight' | |
| Jun 18, 2023 at 3:26 | history | migrated | from english.stackexchange.com (revisions) | ||
| Jun 18, 2023 at 3:15 | history | answered | Martha | CC BY-SA 4.0 |