“I saw him run” — Why doesn’t this require the past tense of “run”?

In a sentence like, “I saw him run,” what is the rule that explains why “run” is in the present tense when “saw” is in the past tense? A similar construction, “She said he swam,” requires past tense for both. I suspect the pronoun is governing verb tense. Is there a term for this? Answer … Read more

“I opened the door. Then, there was a friend standing outside.” correct?

“I opened the door. Then, there was a friend standing outside.” I know how to make the sentence more natural but I was wondering if this particular sentence is grammatically alright. Answer Yes, it is grammatically correct because, technically, the tenses used in this sentence are correct. However, using “then” implies that the friend was … Read more

Using “once upon a time” in a present tense sentence?

I work in a company that sells simple children’s books. A customer complained that the book changes tense randomly, and they’re right. This book was created years ago and needs updating to ensure it uses correct grammar. The book starts out like this: Once upon a time in a faraway land, Princess $Name$ lived in … Read more

Using phrases in email to prof (academic)

1. “I hope you are doing well” Will be it polite, if I write it in an email to Proff/start an email with it? He was ill, and we wrote me about it 2. Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to meet with me How to use this sentense in past tense? … Read more

Present perfect and reported speech

I would like to understand the following (because Google returns suspiciously low number of records for this form): A: I saw him there. B (joins the conversation): Hey, have you seen John lately? C: He has just said he had seen him there. Is it OK to use present perfect and then reported speech shifted … Read more