Oct. 24, 2021
Tenses
-Why is the Lego train disassembled?
- Little Pete 1)had been playing with it when I accidentally stepped on one of the cars. I 2) tried to get his older brother to put it together . Instead, he 3) has disintegrated it completely.
Are the tenses correctly used at points 1-3?
Is it possible to use:
-"was playing with it" in point 1)? and
- "disintegrated " instead of "has disintegrated " in point 3) in British English?
In the following sentences are both alternatives possible? Could you tell me what the difference between them is?
1. I realised / have realised she has a good taste in clothes.
2. I found out / I have found out about his criminal record.
Correction Settings
Tenses
-Why is the Lego train disassembled?
- Little Pete 1)had been playing with it when I accidentally stepped on one of the cars. - Little Pete 1)had been playing with it when I accidentally stepped on one of the cars.
This makes sense, but... it's difficult to describe, but there's a lot more "structure" to this sentence than the question really demands. You'd be more likely to just say "I accidentally stepped on one of the cars when Pete was playing with it" or "Pete was playing with it and I accidentally stepped on one of the cars".
I 2) tried to get his older brother to put it together .
Instead, he 3) has disintegrated it completely.
Are the tenses correctly used at points 1-3?
Is it possible to use:
-"was playing with it" in point 1)?
and
- "disintegrated " instead of "has disintegrated " in point 3) in British English?
In the following sentences are both alternatives possible?
Could you tell me what the difference between them is?
1. I realised / have realised she has a good taste in clothes.
1. I realised / have realised she has good taste in clothes.
2. I found out / I have found out about his criminal record.
Feedback
Are the tenses correctly used at points 1-3? - Yes - 2 and 3 especially are perfect.
Is it possible to use "was playing with it"? - Yes, and that's the change I suggested :)
Is it possible to use "disintegrated" instead of "has disintegrated"? This is related to your other two questions.
Yes, realised and have realised, found out and have found out, all of these are possible. "has realised" is the present perfect tense, and you'd generally use it when you want to emphasise that a past event has present consequences.
So: if you are talking about something that happened *entirely* in the past, you would not use present perfect. Last week I stepped on his train, then his brother disintegrated it. When we went to the shop, I realised she has good taste in clothes. Two weeks ago I found out about his criminal record, so I fired him from my company. Present perfect is impossible in these sentences.
If you want to emphasise that a past event has had lasting consequences that are still relevant in the present, you might use present perfect. His brother has disintegrated it, and it's still in pieces now. I have realised she has good taste in clothes, so I'm going to ask her to choose an outfit for me. I have found about his criminal record, and I intend to fire him.
I think often present perfect is unnecessary, you can use simple past and it's grammatical. It's just a question of what you want to emphasise. In every sentence I suggested here, you could use simple past and it would be fine. It's difficult to describe precisely when it *is* necessary!
One general case where it's necessary is where if you used past tense, the listener would think that meant the situation was somehow *finished*. Examples from wikipedia are "He has written ten plays" and "They have never travelled abroad". If you said "He wrote ten plays" or "They never travelled abroad", the listener is likely to think that the people you are talking about are now dead.
Oct. 24, 2021
It's so nice to receive corrections from you. I wish you were my tutor😊.
THANK YOU
Oct. 24, 2021
You're very welcome, it's a pleasure to hear that :)
|
Tenses This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
-Why is the Lego train disassembled? This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
- Little Pete 1)had been playing with it when I accidentally stepped on one of the cars. - Little Pete 1)had been playing with it when I accidentally stepped on one of the cars. - Little Pete 1)had been playing with it when I accidentally stepped on one of the cars. This makes sense, but... it's difficult to describe, but there's a lot more "structure" to this sentence than the question really demands. You'd be more likely to just say "I accidentally stepped on one of the cars when Pete was playing with it" or "Pete was playing with it and I accidentally stepped on one of the cars". |
|
I 2) tried to get his older brother to put it together . This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Instead, he 3) has disintegrated it completely. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Are the tenses correctly used at points 1-3? This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Is it possible to use: This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
-"was playing with it" in point 1)? This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
and This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
- "disintegrated " instead of "has disintegrated " in point 3) in British English? This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
In the following sentences are both alternatives possible? This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
Could you tell me what the difference between them is? This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
1. I realised / have realised she has a good taste in clothes.
1. I realised / have realised she has |
|
2. I found out / I have found out about his criminal record. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
You need LangCorrect Premium to access this feature.
Go Premium