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Zuotengdazuo Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

Now that she is out of a job...


Now that she is out of a job, Lucy has been considering going back to school, but she hasn’t decided yet.
I don't think this sentence is good because "has been considering" suggests "consider" happened in the past before she is out of a job and then the action "consider" has been in progress up until now and it will continue from now on, which contradicts the idea of "she is out of a job (now)". In other words, it is unlikely she was considering going back to school before she is out of a job.

Thus, the sentence should be "Now that she is out of a job, Lucy begins considering going back to school, but she hasn’t decided yet."


To what extent do you agree with me?
Thank you.
  

Top answer

The sentence is fine. The two actions occur over the same period of time.

— Mister Micawber

  • The sentence is fine.
  • The two actions occur over the same period of time.
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14 Answers
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The sentence is fine. The two actions occur over the same period of time.
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Mister MicawberThe sentence is fine. The two actions occur over the same period of time.
Thank you. But "she is out of her job" is a current status while "consider" happened in the past, so they can't happen at the same time. Right? Because "now that" means "since/because", so the result("consider") must begin after she is out of her job, right?

Besid
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No; she continues to consider. Your version confuses time much more!
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zuotengdazuo But "she is out of her job" is a current status while "consider" happened in the past, so they can't happen at the same time.
If she is out of a job, then she has been out of a job since the moment she ceased employment.
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Now that she is out of a job, Lucy has been considering going back to school, but she hasn’t decided yet.

The sentence is fine. It is part of a narrative story that occurs in the past.
The possible sequence of events:
August 1 2016: Lucy loses her job.
August 2, 2016: Lucy is out of a job. (This state continues until she finds a new job.)
September 30, 2016: For th
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AlpheccaStarsNow that she is out of a job, Lucy has been considering going back to school, but she hasn’t decided yet.The sentence is fine. It is part of a narrative story that occurs in the past.The possible sequence of events:August 1 2016: Lucy loses her job. August 2, 2016: Lucy is out of a job. (This state continues until she finds a new job.)September 30, 2016: For
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zuotengdazuo1. You said it is part of a narrative story that occurs in the past. Then why the whole sentence is in present tense?Why not say "Now that she was out of a job, Lucy has been considering going back to school, but she hasn’t decided yet."?
Its a matter of relative time. It is because the time that a person is reading the story (absolute time) is di
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AlpheccaStars zuotengdazuo1. You said it is part of a narrative story that occurs in the past. Then why the whole sentence is in present tense?Why not say "Now that she was out of a job, Lucy has been considering going back to school, but she hasn’t decided yet."?Its a matter of relative time. It is because the time that a person is reading the story (absolute time) is di
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zuotengdazuoNow that she was out of a job
That is a past-time situation.
zuotengdazuoLucy has been considering going back to school, but she hasn’t decided yet
That is based on a present-time viewpoint.

You can't mix the two,
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Here is the past form.
Now that she was out of a job, Lucy had been (or was) considering going back to school, but she decided not to.
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