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Kmlkz Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
About past tense..
So i was at school, copying down notes from the teacher. It was about analyzing a story. Then, i noticed:
He was an intelligent man.
He was very playfull.
my grammar book defines past tense as :
The past tense is used to express action or to help make a statement about something that occured in the past and has not continued into the present.
Wouldn't this mean that he was playfull and intelligent, but somehow got stupid and dull at the later? But nowhere in the story, the man got stupid or dull. Altough the man died later in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Case_of_Dr_Jekyll_and_Mr_Hyde.
He was an intelligent man.
He was very playfull.
my grammar book defines past tense as :
The past tense is used to express action or to help make a statement about something that occured in the past and has not continued into the present.
Wouldn't this mean that he was playfull and intelligent, but somehow got stupid and dull at the later? But nowhere in the story, the man got stupid or dull. Altough the man died later in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Case_of_Dr_Jekyll_and_Mr_Hyde.
Top answer
Well, he died... so his playful and intelligence is no longer applicable in the present. So you can have two situations: 1) he changed - became dull and stupid or 2) he died - condition no longer present, so "he" along with the conditions are in the past.
- Well, he died...
- so his playful and intelligence is no longer applicable in the present.
- So you can have two situations: 1) he changed - became dull and stupid or 2) he died - condition no longer present, so "he" along with the conditions are in the past.
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4 Answers
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Well, he died... so his playful and intelligence is no longer applicable in the present.
So you can have two situations:
1) he changed - became dull and stupid
or
2) he died - condition no longer present, so "he" along with the conditions are in the past.
So you can have two situations:
1) he changed - became dull and stupid
or
2) he died - condition no longer present, so "he" along with the conditions are in the past.
00
Maybe he was inteligent in that situation,for example he did inteligent .
and again for the playfull is the same.
and again for the playfull is the same.
00
He did intelligent things.
You cannot use adj with verbs.
Yes, he can do intelligent things in the past and so he was intelligent then.
However, later on, he can do stupid things, so he is no longer intelligent --> he was intelligent until he did many stupid things.
It all depends on the story.
You cannot use adj with verbs.
Yes, he can do intelligent things in the past and so he was intelligent then.
However, later on, he can do stupid things, so he is no longer intelligent --> he was intelligent until he did many stupid things.
It all depends on the story.
00
interesting... so, a less ambiguous and accurate statement would be:
he is an intelligent and a playful man.
he is an intelligent and a playful man.
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