4

When I was on italki, I saw this notebook entry:

Have you guys heard about the newest apple's mobile?
I just watched the advertisement and the phone is really cool.
Even though the phone haven't released yet, my friend already bought in Singapore. Nah, I wonder if it authentic Apple's phone.
However, I heard that Apple only launched phone in 16,64,and 128GB capacity. Apple launched two phone yesterday. They are iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus.
IPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ are very expensive. The price is around $799, which it means 12 million rupiah.
Ah, I hope my dad wants to buy me one. lol

Someone corrected it as marked below:

Have you guys heard about the newest latest apple's mobile phone?
I just watched the advertisement and the phone is really cool.
Even though the phone haven't released yet, my friend already one bought in Singapore. Nah, I wonder if it is authentic Apple’s phone.
However, I heard that Apple will only launched the phone in 16,64,and 128GB storage capacity.
Apple has launched two phone​s yesterday. They are the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 plus.
Both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ are very expensive. The price is around $799, which it means converted to Rupiah is 12 million.
Ah, I hope my dad wants to buy one. lol

Did he give right correction? I’m wondering about this one especially:

Apple has launched two phones yesterday. They are the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 plus.

If this is the right correction, why sould that sentence use the past tense and not the present tense?

Improve this question
8
  • Compare your example with this one: "Isabelle arrived yesterday. She is a fine girl." Arguably, we could write "She was a fine girl." However, I believe that the backshift (from is to was, or from are to were) in this case and in your example is optional because what we state still holds true at the time of speaking.
    – Damkerng T.
    Sep 10, 2014 at 14:29
  • So which is better "She is a fine girl" or "she was..." ?
    – mockie
    Sep 10, 2014 at 14:40
  • I usually write or say things the way I see them, and this includes how I use tenses, too. So if I think Isabelle is a fine girl, I'll say, "She is a fine girl." Unless something unexpected happened after her arrival, it's very unlikely for me to say, "She was a fine girl."
    – Damkerng T.
    Sep 10, 2014 at 14:46
  • Is there any tips for me to decide which tense i have to choose when I speaking or writing ? Because I always confused :(
    – mockie
    Sep 10, 2014 at 14:55
  • Two different ways I can think of at the moment. One is to study English grammar, and try to apply it when you use English. The other is to immerse yourself in an environment that allows you to absorb plenty of good English.
    – Damkerng T.
    Sep 10, 2014 at 15:08

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
6

"Apple has launched two phones yesterday" is incorrect.

"Has launched" is present perfect tense. But saying "yesterday" puts it in the past. You can't use present perfect tense and then specify a past time.

"Apple launched two phones yesterday" is correct grammar.

But it is unclear in context. The writer begins by saying that Apple has released a new phone, then he says that Apple launched two phones. Is the new phone that he began the paragraph talking about one of these two phones? Or is this two other phones? If they are two other phones, why did he suddenly drop the discussion of the first phone? If it's one of the two phones, what does the first have to do with the second?

Depending on just what the writer means, he should have written, "Apple launched two variations of this phone yesterday" or "Apple launched this phone, the iPhone 6, and another similar product, the iPhone 6 plus, yesterday." Or something of that sort.

Proofreading is supposed to be out of bounds on this site, but here is how I would revise the paragraph:

Have you guys heard about the newest mobile from Apple? I just watched the advertisement and the phone is really cool. Even though the phone hasn't been released yet, my friend already bought one in Singapore. I wonder if it is an authentic Apple phone. I heard that Apple only launched this phone in 16-, 64-, and 128-GB capacities. Apple launched two versions of this phone yesterday. They are the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ are very expensive. The price is around $799, which means 12 million rupiah. Ah, I hope my dad wants to buy me one. lol

Improve this answer
4
  • "They are the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus" Why using present tense? Is shetalking about the Iphones that launched "yesterday", ins't it ?
    – mockie
    Sep 10, 2014 at 14:09
  • "...already bought one/it in Singapore." :) As for the shift from past to present toward the end, it's because only the release happened yesterday. The versions launched still are the iPhone 6 and 6+, even today. Avoiding this shift could be done by combining the 2 sentences: "Apple launched two versions of this phone yesterday: the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus." The present-tense sentences after that could be a separate paragraph since they shift from talking about the release to basic facts about the phone.
    – mc01
    Sep 10, 2014 at 17:38
  • @mockie RE "they are": I think it would be equally correct here to say "they are" or "they were". You could use the past tense to be consistent with "launched yesterday". But the phones that were launched yesterday still are the iPhone 6 and 6+, that fact hasn't changed since they were launched. So the present tense is equally valid.
    – Jay
    Sep 10, 2014 at 18:43
  • Oh, I see @mc01 already said that. Sorry, I replied to the first comment before reading the second.
    – Jay
    Sep 10, 2014 at 18:44

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .