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Irene Mallory Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Desperately need some help with grammar!
Dear english-speakers, could you please help with the right use of past tenses here?
1) 'I have been insistently calling you since 4 o'clock and your phone was busy (have been busy?) all the time'
2) 'It was snowing heavily and I couldn't read the trolley bus number. When I had already passed a few stations, I realized that I was going in the wrong direction'
3) We have (already?) been acquainted with him for more than a year'
4) 'What has she been just telling you?'
5) 'I have been reading and writing for three days and has got very tired'
6) 'I saw (realized?) that the moment, he had been waiting for, has come'
And the last but not least - 'The artists have been working since morning because we want to have hung the wall newspaper by tonight'
1) 'I have been insistently calling you since 4 o'clock and your phone was busy (have been busy?) all the time'
2) 'It was snowing heavily and I couldn't read the trolley bus number. When I had already passed a few stations, I realized that I was going in the wrong direction'
3) We have (already?) been acquainted with him for more than a year'
4) 'What has she been just telling you?'
5) 'I have been reading and writing for three days and has got very tired'
6) 'I saw (realized?) that the moment, he had been waiting for, has come'
And the last but not least - 'The artists have been working since morning because we want to have hung the wall newspaper by tonight'
Top answer
1) ... and your phone has been busy , or ... but your phone was busy .
- 1) ...
- and your phone has been busy , or ...
- but your phone was busy .
- 2) Fine.
- 3) No already in this sentence.
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4 Answers
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1) ...and your phone has been busy, or ...but your phone was busy.
2) Fine.
3) No already in this sentence. Already would be possible in We had (already) been acquainted with him for more than a year.
4) What has she just been telling you.
5) I have be
2) Fine.
3) No already in this sentence. Already would be possible in We had (already) been acquainted with him for more than a year.
4) What has she just been telling you.
5) I have be
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'I have been insistently calling you since 4 o'clock
Are you sure that you don't mean 'incessantly'?
Clive
Are you sure that you don't mean 'incessantly'?
Clive
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No, I'm not quite sure about this. What I meant was that he/she called lots of times, with determination to get an answer. I hope I managed to show the main point here.
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Insistently implies that you kept speaking to someone, eg his secretary, and kept saying 'I must talk to him, I must talk to him'.
Incessantly means you kept calling, but does not tell us whether anyone answered the phone.
Clive
Incessantly means you kept calling, but does not tell us whether anyone answered the phone.
Clive
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