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1- Our school was opening exactly 25 years ago today.
2- I used to go horse-riding but now I do not.
3- This novel is first published 10 years ago.
4- The tourist took some photos when he was visiting the museum.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

SinovenatoR TFPFind the mistakes

There is more than one. See if you can find them, and we'll check your work.

CJ

SinovenatoR TFP · Answer

Well, I would go with:
1- "has been opened" instead of "was opening"
2- I do not really what to do but I think "don't" is the mistake
3- is --> has been/was
4- was visiting --> had visited

CalifJim · Answer

1- Our school ~~was opening~~ opened exactly 25 years ago today.
2- I used to go horse-riding, but now I do not.
3- This novel is was first published 10 years ago.
4- The tourist took some photos when he was visiting the museum.

1. The present prefect that you proposed (has been opened) cannot be used with an expression of time (25 years ago).
2. All you need is a comma. You can end with "do not" or "don't". It makes no difference.
3. As in the first sentence, you have an expression of time (10 years ago), so you can't use has been.
4. OK as is. You don't need to change anything, but I would improve the sentence in one of these ways:

The tourist took some photos while he was visiting the museum.
The tourist took some photos when he visited the museum.

CJ

SinovenatoR TFP · Answer

1- Should not it be present perfect because of "ago" ?
2- My class mate has already corrected it with a comma but our teacher said it is not about the comma
3- Same as "1", should not it be present perfect because of "ago" ?
4- The improvement with "while" is a good one and acceptable, I agree with you.

Generally, present perfect is used when an action took place in past but its effect/consequences are still seen in present, right ?

CalifJim · Answer

SinovenatoR TFP1- Should ~~not~~ it not be present perfect because of "ago" ?

On the contrary, it must not be present perfect because of "ago".

SinovenatoR TFP2- My class mate has already corrected it with a comma but our teacher said it is not about the comma

Let me know what your teacher thinks the answer is when he/she tells you.

SinovenatoR TFP3- Same as "1", should ~~not~~ it not be present perfect because of "ago" ?

Same as "1", no, no, no! If it's got "ago", use the past; don't use the present perfect.

SinovenatoR TFPGenerally, present perfect is used when an action took place in past but its effect/consequences are still seen in present, right ?

More or less, in some cases. There are various uses of the present perfect and various explanations of each usage, most of them vague and unhelpful. One rule, however, that works 99.9999% of the time is that you cannot use the present perfect if you say when the action took place, i.e., if you use a time expression in your sentence.

The following are all WRONG!

*Louise has eaten breakfast at 9 am today.
*Frank and Mary have visited China in 2007.
*Paul and Martin have played football on the same team two years ago.
*Mary and Susan have been friends when they were children.
*Jane has seen the movie before it was officially released to the public.

If you remove the underlined portions, however, the sentences above will be correct.

Whenever you see a sentence with a expression that tells when an action occurred, use the past, not the present perfect.

CJ

SinovenatoR TFP · Answer

Now I get it all about "ago", present perfect and past, for no. 1, could it be okey with "was opened" as the less words you remove/add/edit the more marks you get in exam, that is how it goes here in my school. However for no. 2, he made it a challenge, a prize for whoever gets it right.

CalifJim · Answer

SinovenatoR TFPfor no. 1, could it be okay with "was opened" as the ~~less~~ fewer words you remove/add/edit the more marks you get in exam

It would just barely be OK with 'was opened'. It's grammatically correct that way, but most native speakers would say 'opened', not 'was opened'.

SinovenatoR TFPfor no. 2, he made it a challenge, a prize for whoever gets it right.

In that case, either
1) he wants you to remove the hyphen from horse-riding and make it two words (horse riding),
or, more likely,
2) he wants you to replace horse-riding with the two words horseback riding.

Nowadays, horse riding is the more common term in British English, and horseback riding is the more common term in American English, so it may depend on which variety of English your teacher wants you to learn or on which variety he is more familiar with.

CJ

Fivejedjon · Answer

CalifJimNowadays, horse riding is the more common term in British English

And just riding is probably the most common among those who actually do it.

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