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Believer Posted 19 years ago
Grammar
Going back any search for time reference
Hi,
Whenever I am reading some newspaper articles, I sometimes get a little confused as to the time-line references the sentences in the article seemingly purport to make. When I encounter a situation like that, do I have to assume that a proper time reference is made based on earlier contexts and go from there. Here is a made-up story to illustrate my point.
There was an incident of petty theft happened in Joe's house. Someone came into his house and stole Joe's old watch, that is supposed to worth not much. Many of his neighbors had warned him that he was susceptible to this kind of incidents (incidences??) by his habit of leaving his main door unlocked.
Here, 'had warned' can be accepted because I have to assume the time line to be that of 'before the petty theft'? I have to go back and assume that it means the action of warning happened before the theft?
Whenever I am reading some newspaper articles, I sometimes get a little confused as to the time-line references the sentences in the article seemingly purport to make. When I encounter a situation like that, do I have to assume that a proper time reference is made based on earlier contexts and go from there. Here is a made-up story to illustrate my point.
There was an incident of petty theft happened in Joe's house. Someone came into his house and stole Joe's old watch, that is supposed to worth not much. Many of his neighbors had warned him that he was susceptible to this kind of incidents (incidences??) by his habit of leaving his main door unlocked.
Here, 'had warned' can be accepted because I have to assume the time line to be that of 'before the petty theft'? I have to go back and assume that it means the action of warning happened before the theft?
Top answer
Believer There was an incident of a petty theft happened in at Joe's house. Someone came went into his house and stole Joe's his old watch, which wasn't worth too much. ) by d ue to his habit of leaving his front door unlocked.
- Believer There was an incident of a petty theft happened in at Joe's house.
- Someone came went into his house and stole Joe's his old watch, which wasn't worth too much.
- ) by d ue to his habit of leaving his front door unlocked.
- Here, 'had warned' can be accepted because I have to assume the time line to be that of 'before the petty theft'?
- I have to go back and assume that it means the action of warning happened before the theft?
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4 Answers
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BelieverThere wasan incident ofa petty thefthappenedinat Joe's house. Someonecamewent into his house and stoleJoe'shis old watch, which wasn't worth too much. Many o
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Thank you, Yankee.
As to the corrected sentence "Someone went into his house and stole his old watch, which wasn't worth too much." would you say it could be written as "which isn't worth" rather than "which wasn't worth"? My argument is that eventhough a person is reporting what has expired, the worth of a watch is such that that isn't susceptible to the passing of time -- sort of an ag
As to the corrected sentence "Someone went into his house and stole his old watch, which wasn't worth too much." would you say it could be written as "which isn't worth" rather than "which wasn't worth"? My argument is that eventhough a person is reporting what has expired, the worth of a watch is such that that isn't susceptible to the passing of time -- sort of an ag
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Hi Believer
No, it would sound odd to me to change the tense to the present tense in the sentence about someone's rather anonymous old watch. Many things could have happend to the watch after the theft. For example, it might have been sold for a very little money (suggesting "was worth"), it might have even been destroyed (i.e. it might no longer exist and therefore the value of the wat
No, it would sound odd to me to change the tense to the present tense in the sentence about someone's rather anonymous old watch. Many things could have happend to the watch after the theft. For example, it might have been sold for a very little money (suggesting "was worth"), it might have even been destroyed (i.e. it might no longer exist and therefore the value of the wat
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Believer would you say it could be written as "which isn't worth" rather than "which wasn't worth"?In a text it seems a little peculiar but in speach switching to the present tells the listener that this is something the speaker himself is bringing to the table rather than part of the report.
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