Questions tagged [tense]
Tense is location in time by grammatical forms and constructions rather than by semantics.
2,130
questions
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How do you ask the age of a person in a picture?
I am confused between these two sentences :
How old are you in this picture?
How old were you in this picture?
Which one of these is correct or more accurate?
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1answer
21 views
Reported Speech - Backshifting or not?
I've seen a lot of exceptions for the reported speech and I would like to debate and thereby clear the things that are on my mind regarding this subject.
I've seen these types of "Rules" of ...
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24 views
“Destroying of world” or “Destroying world”?
For meaning like "world destroying" or "destruction of world". What form should be used? What are their names, because in grammar rules of participle tense forms there are absolutely different ...
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1answer
20 views
What is the difference between “where are you living” and “where do you live”
If I want to ask a friend of mine where he is living could I use both sentences below in the same context?
1 where are you living
2 where do you live
If both are wrong, then what is the ...
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1answer
32 views
Is there a difference between these sentences when “today” is added?
I have read in a grammar book that there is a difference between these two sentences and it is as follows:
"I have been swimming today" is said shortly after the swimming has stopped, hair is still ...
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1answer
36 views
I/I've borrowed it from my friend [duplicate]
I was wondering about past simple and present perfect lately. It was a long path of understanding these 2 tenses, I think I finally understand the meaning of "context" that can occur or not.
When ...
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1answer
15 views
Cohesion in tenses in Relative and Main clauses
I have a chart which illustrates the unemployment rates of five different countries in 2005, and I need to write a report about this chart. Which one of the following sentences is the correct one ?
...
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1answer
17 views
had predicted or predict?
Does the past perfect in the following passage have a past event as
its anchor point?
To be a good scientist, you have to be tolerant and patient when
experiments or interpretations do not turn ...
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1answer
36 views
Is it grammatical to say “I didn't … for a long time”?
An ELL post says
We talked on the phone several times. Later I didn't hear anything for a long time, so I figured she didn't need my help anymore
which uses past simple tense with "for a long time"...
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Is it grammatical and idiomatic to say “I want … I did … I got”?
In one of my posts I said
I want to know how is the menu popped up on youtube, so I inspected the setting-button on youtube, and I got this
The need to figure out that technique does not only ...
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1answer
13 views
What tense did use in when-clause?
A teachbook says that 'be going to' is the substitute for modal verb 'will'. Example:
When I was going to school, I was preoccupied with good grades.
What tense did use the first clause, and why? ...
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1answer
22 views
Why we use has been in present perfect
It has been a nice trip - present perfect
It was a nice trip -past
How the first sentence could be present perfect because present perfect indicates something that has done recently then why we use ...
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17 views
past simple tense vs. past perfect tense, when talking about a reason
An ELL post (The difference : When / Before) says
When I had gotten used to coffee, I went on a trip to Brazil to try many different types.
Suppose coffee is the reason that guy went to Brazil.
...
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0answers
26 views
Is Present Perfect Continuous a finished activity or is still continuing in this situation?
I have a doubt, perfect tenses confuse me a lot... Imagine this situation:
Javi: Sorry learnprogramming (me), I have been watching an album and I forgot to call you, sorry.
Imagine that a person ...
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1answer
35 views
Been is confusing me HELP!
I was watching tv series where police said “he could have been wearing gloves’ I think he speculated the past event..but I really can't understand the reason behind using ing and been...because we ...
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1answer
22 views
Question about the tense used when talking about a general scenario
Do the three sentences below have any differences in meaning? Do I use simple past or present perfect or simple present tense when it is a general scenario?
Every time I go back to my dorm from ...
4
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1answer
243 views
see, saw, have seen
In one of my posts (Is a simple "context" a good start to ask questions?) I said
I've seen lots of people begin their questions with ...
where I used present perfect tense. Actually, I ...
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1answer
31 views
Which tense does “just now” correspond to, past simple or present perfect?
In my other post (Are "directly" and "immediately" interchangeable in some situations?) I said
I went through a nice tutorial if and whether: indirect questions on Cambridge ...
2
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1answer
27 views
‘The turkey won’t fully cook’ needs to use passive voice?
I found this sentence in an English leaning material:
The temperature needs to be 220 at the minimum or else the turkey won’t fully cook.
The subject of the latter half is ‘turkey’. Do we need to ...
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1answer
25 views
Help Rectify vs Help Rectifying
It will be great if someone can help rectify it.
It will be great if someone can help rectifying it.
May I know which one above is grammatical?
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1answer
18 views
which one first happened? “dragging the canal” or “ordering to enter the canal”?
which one first happened? "dragging the canal" or "ordering to enter the canal"?
The danger of blindly following alleged spirit guidance was clearly
shown some months later in the neighbouring ...
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0answers
11 views
past participle vs. simple past on the context of quotation
An ELL post (What's the meaning of "it's kind/nice of you?) says
My teacher had told me that "it's kind/nice of you" is an expression of praising but I have heard this phrase from ...
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0answers
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present participle on the context of users and service provider
Consider the situation,
An user encountered a bug and report the bug to the service provider; the service provider fixed that bug. That user said
This should have been resolved by now
An answer ...
0
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1answer
16 views
simple present vs. present participle on context
An user issued a bug on meta.stackoverflow.com recently. After that another guy (engineer) made some fix and then said
This should be resolved.
I guess that sentence should be
This should have ...
0
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0answers
27 views
“would probably be” or “would be probably”?
In my other question ("The question is that" vs. "The question is") I said
I guess the 3rd way ... would be probably grammatical and idiomatic.
where I used "would be probably",...
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2answers
36 views
When the expression “I shall be coming to see you …” would be used?
I was worried about whether I used the right preposition in post Does bridge actually refer to the part on which pedestrians and vehicles move on in everyday English?. So, I googled it. And then I ...
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0answers
20 views
mixing simple present with present progressive
The children sit on the sofa, watching TV. Their mom watches too.
Is it weird or normal to write "watches" in the example above when I have just used "watching"?
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1answer
22 views
“It gets booked up quickly though so you’ d need to check it was available” why it was? I can’t understand why past tense?
It gets booked up quickly though so you’d need to check it was available
Why it was? I can’t understand why past tense.
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0answers
11 views
Present infinitive with have as auxiliary?
What exactly is happening here in bold? Is it in the passive voice of the present infinitive with have as auxiliary verb?
The scene had to be viewed to be appreciated.
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19 views
Problem with past perfect tense
Here are two sentences. “I had intended to meet him, but there was an emergency then,” and “I intended to have met him, but there was an emergency then.”
Are these two sentences expressing the same ...
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0answers
22 views
present perfect and present continuous in one sentence
The present perfect and present continuous are a little bit challenging for me.
Here:
How are you feeling today? I hope you have fully recovered and you are having a good start of the week. If ...
0
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1answer
29 views
“I am living in London” and “I have lived in London”
Tell me please the difference between using Present Perfect and Present Continuous in these sentences.
I am living in London.
I have lived in London.
The idea is to tell that right now I live in ...
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0answers
35 views
Do people really use the grammar “Past Perfect+Past Simple”?
Grammar books say when something happens before something else, we should use had+past particle in the sentence that happened at first and then say the second sentence in past tense. Do people use it ...
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1answer
24 views
His school tardiness is improved or his school tardy has improved since last meeting
His school tardiness is improved or his school tardy has improved since last meeting
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2answers
30 views
Different meanings in different tenses
What are the different meanings of ''promise'' in past simple and present perfect?
I think they are not different when translating to my language, but it must be different right?
There are two ...
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0answers
20 views
Our Head of Audit is so obtuse that he had no inkling that funds were being ingeniously diverted
A.obtuse B.had C.were being D.ingeniously E.No error
What is the right answer??? In my point of view, the answer should be "No error" plz correct me if I am wrong .
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1answer
31 views
Should I use is/was in this sentence
It has been a long chain of email with the person, who I will be meeting with, for an interview and the person emphasizes something twice in the email, so I am responding to him.
Noted! And yes my ...
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1answer
28 views
What is the past tense of “would like to”?
there:
Could you tell me what the past tense of "would like to do" is? Is it "wanted to do"?
Also, I'd like to know the present and past perfect tense of "would like to do" if it has.
If it is not ...
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1answer
43 views
verb tense shift allowed when “never” or “ever” is used
(1) I have never been tricked while I was shopping at ABC. (mixed tenses, okay)
(2) I have been tricked a few times while I was shopping at ABC. (a tense mismatch, wrong)
(3) I was tricked a few ...
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0answers
31 views
What tense should I use in an adverbial clause when Future in the Past used in the content clause?
In a sentences like
John said that he would go abroad when he (will be | would be) twenty
or
I thought I would work in IT after I (graduated | will graduate | would graduate ) the university
...
1
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1answer
37 views
past tense of modal verbs
Is it appropriate to say, "Bob was not sure whether Kate was at work. She might be at work."?
In my opinion, "Bob thought, 'She may/might be at work.'"is correct.
Switching it to indirect speech, "...
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0answers
27 views
Past perfect continuous for continuing events in the past
I got from Cambridge Dictionary (in grammar section): Past perfect continuous tense.
Continuing events in the past
We use the past perfect continuous to talk about actions or events which ...
1
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1answer
29 views
How are they/How were they?
I saw my children two days ago.
How are they?/How were they?
Are both of these natural in the given context or only one of them?
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0answers
27 views
Why do these while and when parallel questions have definite answers (when both past or continuous is correct)?
I am teaching a junior high school student at home in Japan and I just picked basketball worksheets to pique his interest but didn't look at them hard.
These question have the answers below. Why are ...
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1answer
60 views
Can present perfect be used for events occurred long time ago?
I had a discussion with my mate about the usage of present perfect tense, and he raised the point that it can only be used for recent past events. First off, it's illogical, because we can't agree ...
1
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1answer
30 views
“I went to the mall after taking a shower” - How to handle -ing forms in different tenses?
I'm currently trying to improve my English grammar and I'm strangely fascinated with tenses. I just came across a sentence structure that I find quite difficult to analyze. It's probably not too hard ...
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23 views
The perfect form after modal verbs
Which are correct?
Who do you think was the murderer in the story?
1) I think Ben would be the murderer.
2) I think Ben would have been the murderer.
3) Ben would be the murderer.
4) Ben would ...
0
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1answer
40 views
A tense problem about the use of modal verbs
Here is an example from the HP books:
"Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold."
I think it enough to ...
1
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1answer
17 views
Combined past continuous and past simple usage
In one ESL exercise the sentence "They were whistling while they worked" is given. There is no other context given.
I am wondering why the word 'whistling' is in the past continuous, when one would ...
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1answer
30 views
Wake up & Woke up
What's the different between 'wake up' & 'woke up'?
Which grammar part used in it? & How can I understand this type of word? Which means different situation?
