have/had

Question

I'm still without my glasses. I can't find them. Where are they? Oh, here they are! They have/had been missing for ages! Should I use 'have' or 'had'?

Philip · Accepted Answer

Yoong LiatI'm still without my glasses. I can't find them. Where are they? Oh, here they are! They have/had been missing for ages!

Should I use 'have' or 'had'?
"have" = up to this point in time. (Haven't we seen this before?)

Yoong Liat · Answer

Philip
Yoong Liat
I'm still without my glasses. I can't find them. Where are they? Oh, here they are! They have/had been missing for ages!

Should I use 'have' or 'had'?

"have" = up to this point in time. (Haven't we seen this before?)

It was posted by Kooyeen, but the question is not the same. I hope Kooyeen won't sue me.

New2grammar · Answer

It was posted by Kooyeen, but the question is not the same. I hope Kooyeen won't sue me.

Yoong Liat,

I always have problems with 'the same'. I do not know when to pluralize the subject and when not to. Just a quick question, what does 'the question' here refer to?

Thanks!

Yoong Liat · Answer

New2grammar
It was posted by Kooyeen, but the question is not the same. I hope Kooyeen won't sue me.

Yoong Liat,

I always have problems with 'the same'. I do not know when to pluralize the subject and when not to. Just a quick question, what does 'the question' here refer to?

Kooyen didn't ask about whether it should be 'has' or 'had'. He asked about something else. Therefore, his question is not the same as mine.

I asked only one question and that is whether I should use 'have' or 'had' in that sentence.

Had I asked another question whether there was any error in that sentence, then I would have asked two questions. If that was what I did, I would say " ... but the questions are not the same."

I hope my explanation is clear.

New2grammar · Answer

Thanks for the explanation. It's quite clear except that I have a small follow-up question. I know it's right to say "Question A and question B are not the same". So similarly, is it correct to say "The questions (Kooyen's and my) are not the same" in your context?

Bokeh · Answer

New2grammarThe questions (Kooyen's and mine my) are not the same

New2grammar · Answer

Thank you for the correction, Bokeh

Yoong Liat · Answer

New2grammarSo similarly, is it correct to say "The questions (Kooyen's and my) are not the same" in your context?

You could also say "Kooyen's question and mine are not the same."

CalifJim · Answer

New2grammar,

Is this what you are concerned about?

Two things - are (not) the same.
One thing - is (not) the same as - another thing.

These books are different. They are not the same.
This book is not the same as that book.
This book is different [from / than] that book.

Dancing and singing are not the same. They are different.
Dancing is not the same as singing. It is different [from / than] singing.
Singing is not the same as dancing. It is different.

The sum of 2 and 2 and the product of 2 and 2 are the same.
The sum of 2 and 2 is the same as the product of 2 and 2.
(2 + 2 = 2 x 2)

CJ

Kooyeen · Answer

Hi Yoong,
no, I won't sue you.

Actually, I am still very unsure about the past perfect too, so you asked a good question. I'm interested in this thread...
The fact is that when you use the present perfect, sometimes there's an impicit "up to now". The fact is that "now" is not necessarily a point in time, but it can refer to the whole situation, and what happened or will happen around now. My problem is always "what triggers the past perfect instead of the present perfect?"
It's difficult to say, because the context is vital...

You might be interested in these (I am interested):
- This baseball game is awesome. I've never seen a beseball game, in Italy we don't play baseball at all. (I'm sure the present perfect is ok, even though you are actually seeing the game and you say you've never seen a baseball game)
- Now I'm out of the stadium... That game was awesome, I [have/had] never seen a baseball game , in Italy we don't...
- Now I'm on the way home... That game was awesome, I [have/had] never seen a baseball game , in Italy we don't...
- Now I'm at home... That game was awesome, I [have/had] never seen a baseball game , in Italy we don't...
- Now I'm going to bed... That game was awesome, I [have/had] never seen a baseball game , in Italy we don't...
- Now I just woke up... Yesterday, that game, it was awesome. I [have/had] never seen a baseball game , in Italy we don't...

There you go. As you can see, matters are getting complicated. Plus, we could complicate matters even more by trying to leave out the first part, "That game was awesome". Then we could try to add "before" at the end ("never seen a baseball game before"), or try to modify the sentences in some other way. The question is simple, the answer is not, I guess: "What makes natives switch to the past perfect?"

I asked about this several times, I think. I think I understood that the past perfect start to be used when you start to think "in the past". So, all of the above where I said "That game WAS" should trigger the past perfect...

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