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’ve already searched a lot on the web, but still can’t figure out one specific example. For instance: Mary has been to England twice. Alice has been to the cinema twice this week. (= The week is still not over) I completely understand why we use the present perfect in the above sentences. But here … Read more
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
As a poor example: Person A: ‘I really liked cats when I was a child.’ Person B: ‘When you say you “liked cats”, could you tell me more?’ Person A: ‘Blah blah.’ I’m really wondering about the tense of ‘when you say’ here. Should it be ‘When you said’? Is there a name for this … Read more
Let consider that someone will take a flight tomorrow with a plan of course. In this case, we can use He’s going to fly tomorrow in Simple Future. How ever, I’ve learnt that we can also use Present Continues to represent this situation in future too. So we’re allowed to use He’s flying tomorrow. On … Read more
I am confused about the use of tenses in describing an event in the past. I went to a Funfair and I played several games. (a) My favorite game is Ring toss. I like tossing the rings to the cones. OR (b) My favorite game was Ring toss. I like木 tossing the rings to the … Read more
She is really a good friend and she ……….. to send me a letter each month . ( never failed / never fails ) Does ” each ” here refer to the present simple or the past simple ? Answer Never Fails is the correct answer over here. Reason:- It is a past continues sentence. … Read more
I’d like to know if both sentences could be possible. We’ve gone / We’ve been going to the same dentist since we were children. You’ve worn / You’ve been wearing that coat for years. Thank you in advance. Answer I would go with the present perfect progressive here (the second set of options). The present … Read more
There is a exercise to practice some usages. Q. I asked Sue what happened, but she doesn’t tell / won’t tell me A. won’t tell I can’t understand it. I chose another one, but I don’t think that is right. the situation is about past, so I think ‘didn’t’ is right. I believe ‘will’ is … Read more
There’s this quote from the game Batman: Arkham Origins in which there’s the phrase “She dies” which Ferris says about Mr. Freeze’s wife Nora, who’s suffering an uncurable disease. Shouldn’t it be something like “She’s dying”, given that that’s what she is, “dying”, as in “suffering an uncurable condition and awaiting certain death”? What would … Read more
