orea5's avatar
orea5

March 1, 2023

0
Questions About English Tenses

Would you please help me answer these questions?

1. In the aternoons he was playing darts or reading a book / In the afternoon's he played darts or read a book. (Are both these versions correct? What's the difference in meaning between them?)
2. They didn't get married until last month although they had been/were engaged for years. (Are both versions possible?)
3. It was the first time we had taken part in a tournament so we really had not been expecting to win / so we really were not expecting to win. (Are they correct? How does the meaning change?)
4. If she hasn't passed / doesn't pass her exam, she won't be able to start her degree course. (Is the first option an assumption that she didn’t pass that exam and the second option is just general information about the consequences of her not passing the exam?)
5. I didn't see her/ haven't seen her/ haven't been seeing her for 3 months . (Is the first option "I didn’t see her for 3 months"at all correct? Does the second one mean "She's been out of my sight for 3 months, however I could have been massaging her online"? Does the third one mean that the person has not been dating some woman for 3 months?)
6. He has been playing chess for years but has not made much progress - he still plays / he's still playing chess but he still isn't good. (Which of the two options is more natural to use to explain the part of the sentence before a dash, referring to him as still playing chess and still not being good?)
7. In relation to the previous question, does "HE PLAYED CHESS FOR SOME YEARS AND HE STILL PLAYS CHESS" have the same meaning as "HE HAS BEEN PLAYING CHESS FOR YEARS?"

Corrections

Questions Aabout English Tenses

Would you please help me answer these questions?

1. In the afternoons he was playinged darts or reading a book / In the afternoon's he would played darts or read a book.

past tense / past something ...

(Are both of these versions correct? What's the difference in meaning between them? )

In my corrections, there's not much of a difference. They're both past tense.

2. They didn't get married until last month although they had been/were engaged for years.

(Are both versions possible? )

Yes, good work.

3. It was the first time we had taken part in a tournament so we really had not been expecting to win / so we really were not expecting to win.

(Are they correct? How does the meaning change? )

Yes, these are both correct but we say the second way much more often in the US. There's no change in meaning between the two.

4. If she hasn't passed / doesn't pass her exam, she won't be able to start her degree course.

(Is the first option an assumption that she didn’t pass thate exam and the second option is just general information about the consequences of her not passing the exam? )

No, both mean the same thing.

5. I didn't see her/ haven't seen her/ haven't been seeing her for 3 months .

(Is the first option "I didn’t see her for 3 months"at all correct? Does the second one mean "She's been out of my sight for 3 months, however, I could have been maessaging her online"? Does the third one mean that the person has not been dating some womanone for 3 months? )

1 is correct.
2 is correct and more commonly used in the US. 1 and 2 mean the same thing. This usually means you've had no contact with the person.
3 You're correct in that it means that they haven't been dating for 3 months.

6. He has been playing chess for years but has not made much progress - h. He still plays / he's still playing chess but he still isn't good.

(Which of the two options is more natural to use to explain the part of the sentence before athe dash, which referrings to him as still playing chess and still not being good? )

1 and 2 mean the same thing and both are correct as well as natural.

7. In relationgards to the previous question, does "HE PLAYED CHESS FOR SOME YEARS AND HE STILL PLAYS CHESS" have the same meaning as "HE HAS BEEN PLAYING CHESS FOR YEARS?"

1 doesn't sound natural to me. 2 is much more natural to me.

Feedback

Nice work.

orea5's avatar
orea5

March 1, 2023

0

Thank you for your time, help and a nice comment too🙂

1. In the afternoons he was playing darts or reading a book / In the afternoon's he played darts or read a book.

(Are both these versions correct? What's the difference in meaning between them? )

These are both correct grammatically, although I changed your spelling. And yes, these are basically the same, to the point where they can be used interchangeably.

2. They didn't get married until last month although they had been/were engaged for years.

(Are both versions possible? )

Yes, both versions are possible.

(Are they correct? How does the meaning change? )

The meaning does not change, they can be used interchangeably.

4. If she hasn't passed / doesn't pass her exam, she won't be able to start her degree course.

(Is the first option an assumption that she didn’t pass that exam and the second option is just general information about the consequences of her not passing the exam? )

The first sentence says that she has already taken her exam and the speaker does not know the results. The second sentence is general information about consequences. The first does not make any assumptions besides assuming that she has already taken the exam.

5. I didn't see her/ haven't seen her/ haven't been seeing her for 3 months .

(Is the first option "I didn’t see her for 3 months"at all correct? Does the second one mean "She's been out of my sight for 3 months, however I could have been massaging her online"? Does the third one mean that the person has not been dating some woman for 3 months? )

The first and second options mean the same thing, that the speaker hasn't been in contact with the woman for three months. Their only difference is that the first means that the speaker has recently seen her, but before that they did not see her for three months. The second means that they have not been in contact with the woman at all, and it has recently been three months since last contact. The third one usually means the woman and the speaker haven't been dating for three months, but in the southern United States, it has the same meaning as the second.

(Which of the two options is more natural to use to explain the part of the sentence before a dash, referring to him as still playing chess and still not being good? )

"He still plays" is more natural, as "he's still playing" implies he is currently playing a game of chess, and not that he regularly plays chess.

7. In relation to the previous question, does "HE PLAYED CHESS FOR SOME YEARS AND HE STILL PLAYS CHESS" have the same meaning as "HE HAS BEEN PLAYING CHESS FOR YEARS?"

Yes, both have the same meaning. However, the first sentence is redundant, as the second sentence provides the same amount of information.

Feedback

I hope I was able to clear some things up for you! However, if anyone else has other corrections you should probably listen to them over me, English is my first language but I'm still not great at it.

orea5's avatar
orea5

March 1, 2023

0

Thank you for your GREAT help🙂
Yes, you have cleared up a lot for me.

Questions About English Tenses


Questions Aabout English Tenses

Would you please help me answer these questions?


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

1. In the aternoons he was playing darts or reading a book / In the afternoon's he played darts or read a book.


1. In the afternoons he was playing darts or reading a book / In the afternoon's he played darts or read a book.

1. In the afternoons he was playinged darts or reading a book / In the afternoon's he would played darts or read a book.

past tense / past something ...

(Are both these versions correct? What's the difference in meaning between them? )


(Are both these versions correct? What's the difference in meaning between them? )

These are both correct grammatically, although I changed your spelling. And yes, these are basically the same, to the point where they can be used interchangeably.

(Are both of these versions correct? What's the difference in meaning between them? )

In my corrections, there's not much of a difference. They're both past tense.

2. They didn't get married until last month although they had been/were engaged for years.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

(Are both versions possible? )


(Are both versions possible? )

Yes, both versions are possible.

(Are both versions possible? )

Yes, good work.

3. It was the first time we had taken part in a tournament so we really had not been expecting to win / so we really were not expecting to win.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

(Are they correct? How does the meaning change? )


(Are they correct? How does the meaning change? )

The meaning does not change, they can be used interchangeably.

(Are they correct? How does the meaning change? )

Yes, these are both correct but we say the second way much more often in the US. There's no change in meaning between the two.

4. If she hasn't passed / doesn't pass her exam, she won't be able to start her degree course.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

(Is the first option an assumption that she didn’t pass that exam and the second option is just general information about the consequences of her not passing the exam? )


(Is the first option an assumption that she didn’t pass that exam and the second option is just general information about the consequences of her not passing the exam? )

The first sentence says that she has already taken her exam and the speaker does not know the results. The second sentence is general information about consequences. The first does not make any assumptions besides assuming that she has already taken the exam.

(Is the first option an assumption that she didn’t pass thate exam and the second option is just general information about the consequences of her not passing the exam? )

No, both mean the same thing.

5. I didn't see her/ haven't seen her/ haven't been seeing her for 3 months .


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

(Is the first option "I didn’t see her for 3 months"at all correct? Does the second one mean "She's been out of my sight for 3 months, however I could have been massaging her online"? Does the third one mean that the person has not been dating some woman for 3 months? )


(Is the first option "I didn’t see her for 3 months"at all correct? Does the second one mean "She's been out of my sight for 3 months, however I could have been massaging her online"? Does the third one mean that the person has not been dating some woman for 3 months? )

The first and second options mean the same thing, that the speaker hasn't been in contact with the woman for three months. Their only difference is that the first means that the speaker has recently seen her, but before that they did not see her for three months. The second means that they have not been in contact with the woman at all, and it has recently been three months since last contact. The third one usually means the woman and the speaker haven't been dating for three months, but in the southern United States, it has the same meaning as the second.

(Is the first option "I didn’t see her for 3 months"at all correct? Does the second one mean "She's been out of my sight for 3 months, however, I could have been maessaging her online"? Does the third one mean that the person has not been dating some womanone for 3 months? )

1 is correct. 2 is correct and more commonly used in the US. 1 and 2 mean the same thing. This usually means you've had no contact with the person. 3 You're correct in that it means that they haven't been dating for 3 months.

6. He has been playing chess for years but has not made much progress - he still plays / he's still playing chess but he still isn't good.


6. He has been playing chess for years but has not made much progress - h. He still plays / he's still playing chess but he still isn't good.

(Which of the two options is more natural to use to explain the part of the sentence before a dash, referring to him as still playing chess and still not being good? )


(Which of the two options is more natural to use to explain the part of the sentence before a dash, referring to him as still playing chess and still not being good? )

"He still plays" is more natural, as "he's still playing" implies he is currently playing a game of chess, and not that he regularly plays chess.

(Which of the two options is more natural to use to explain the part of the sentence before athe dash, which referrings to him as still playing chess and still not being good? )

1 and 2 mean the same thing and both are correct as well as natural.

7. In relation to the previous question, does "HE PLAYED CHESS FOR SOME YEARS AND HE STILL PLAYS CHESS" have the same meaning as "HE HAS BEEN PLAYING CHESS FOR YEARS?"


7. In relation to the previous question, does "HE PLAYED CHESS FOR SOME YEARS AND HE STILL PLAYS CHESS" have the same meaning as "HE HAS BEEN PLAYING CHESS FOR YEARS?"

Yes, both have the same meaning. However, the first sentence is redundant, as the second sentence provides the same amount of information.

7. In relationgards to the previous question, does "HE PLAYED CHESS FOR SOME YEARS AND HE STILL PLAYS CHESS" have the same meaning as "HE HAS BEEN PLAYING CHESS FOR YEARS?"

1 doesn't sound natural to me. 2 is much more natural to me.

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