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Troy Posted 22 years ago
Grammar

Like or Liked

I found that quite often people use past tense for sentence like "I liked your photos", why is that so? Can I use "I like your photos" instead? Does the earlier sentence mean that person does not like the photos at the time he is expressing it?

Thanks!
Troy
  

Top answer

I think it’s saying something about the instant when we formed the opinion, some time in the past. Maybe if the album was open on the table and the photographs were topical, we’d use ‘like’. Of course, I can think of some kind of funny situation where I could use the past tense and literally mean it, intending to communicate that my feelings have changed, but I’d be choosing my words very carefully (using them literally) and breaking with popular idiom.

— Aileen

  • I think it’s saying something about the instant when we formed the opinion, some time in the past.
  • Maybe if the album was open on the table and the photographs were topical, we’d use ‘like’.
  • Of course, I can think of some kind of funny situation where I could use the past tense and literally mean it, intending to communicate that my feelings have changed, but I’d be choosing my words very carefully (using them literally) and breaking with popular idiom.
  • What do you think?
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1 Answers
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I think it’s saying something about the instant when we formed the opinion, some time in the past. Maybe if the album was open on the table and the photographs were topical, we’d use ‘like’. Of course, I can think of some kind of funny situation where I could use the past tense and literally mean it, intending to communicate that my feelings have changed, but I’d be choosing my words very careful
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