Our basketball team tried hard but was defeated in the long run.

Question

Hi. Could anyone help me in answering these problems?

i. Our basketball team tried hard but was defeated in the long run. Nobody could say anything. "All that can be done has been done," said the coach.

can I change it to "had been done"? As I think it is a past event.

ii. I don't know why some of my students have a lot of difficulty writing correct sentences.

why not difficult to write, or difficulty in writing?

iii. I can remember my old teacher trying to make me memorize everything he has taught, but in vain.

can I change:
trying to=>tried to
memorize=>to memorize
has=>had (past event)

iv. What is wrong with this sentence: Those who wish to take Advanced English they must first study Intermediate English.

v. Never before have I seen anybody who can do the job as well as Robert.
change to as good as?

thanks in advance.

Doll · Accepted Answer

i. Our basketball team tried hard but was defeated in the long run. Nobody could say anything. "All that can be done has been done," said the coach.

can I change it to "had been done"? As I think it is a past event.-- No. It is not a past event. Be carefula bout can and has done. It is completely show us a present tense. Morover, the sentence you ask is a qoutation by the coach and has nothing to do with the match played in the past.

You can say all that could be done had been done if this is the meaning you want to give us.But this would probaly be told a few days after the match while you were talking about the match with your friends.

why not difficult to write, or difficulty in writing? --- It is difficult to write correct sentences for my students sounds okay. If you say I don't know why my students have a lot of difficult to write... will be wrong because you have to use the noun form ifter a lot of. So, it should be I don't know why some of my students have a lot of difficulty writing correct sentences. As for the preposition, it is not obligatory. You can omit it.

I don't know why some of my students have a lot of difficulty (in) writing ....

iii. I can remember ₁ my old teacher trying to make me memorize everything ₂he has taught, but in vain.₃

Number 1 and 3 are present sentences. Number 2 gives us the meaning of a past situation. Especially you can understand this from the verb trying to. In other words, it would have the similar meaning if you changed the sentence like this:

I can remember that my old teacher was trying to make me memorise everything he has taught, but in vain. So, there is no need for you to try to change the words into past.

can I change:

trying to= tried to --As I told earlier, trying to is a reduction which gives the meaning of a past situation.

memorize= to memorize -- No. Be careful about the causatives. Make someone do something, So, acording to this rule, it is make me memorise everything.

has= had-- No. Your sentence will be past perfect and it will sound wrong. Present perfect tense already gives you the meaning that the event(s) in your sentence happened in the past and still have their effects today.

iv. What is wrong with this sentence: Those who wish to take Advanced English they must first study Intermediate English.
I would say those who wish to have a grasp of Advanced English must study Intermediate English first. Of course this sentence can be changed too.

v. Never before have I seen anybody who can do the job as well as Robert.
change to as good as?
Yes you can change it to as good as but it will not give the meaning of doing something better, more successfully.

CalifJim · Answer

"All that can be done has been done," said the coach. Can I change it to "had been done"? As I think it is a past event.

No. Don't change it. It's a direct quote, so it's from the coach's point of view when he said it. You have to think of it in terms of what the coach regarded as present time when he said it.

If you retell the story later, you can tell what the coach said indirectly. In that case you can use had been because now it's all from your point of view as the storyteller.

The coach said that everything that could be done had been done.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

[Those who wish to take Advanced English] [they] must first study Intermediate English.

You can't have the subject stated twice in English -- once in full, and then as a pronoun. Leave out they.

Compare these -- all wrong, as shown by *.

*Mr. Strong he was late to work today.
*The children they waited in line.
*My sister's best friend she doesn't like beer.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

Never before have I seen anybody who can do the job as well as Robert.

Don't change it.

good, an adjective, answers the question "What kind?"
well, an adverb, answers the question "How?"

Here the idea is "How is the job done?" -- not "What kind of job is it?"

... can do the job how? -- can do the job as well as Robert. (to do well)
______

good would be used in a different way.

Never before have I seen a job as good as Robert's. (a good job)

... what kind of job? -- a job (that is) as good as Robert's (job).

CJ

Masa · Answer

Doll, thanks for your very detailed explanation.
CalifJim, thank you for your many replies.

sorry for being late reply.

Marius Hancu · Answer

I do not think the expression in the long run is correctly used in your original sentence.

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long run

: a period of time sufficiently long to permit all factors in a situation to exercise their full influence -- used chiefly in the phrase in the long run<it is obvious that in the long run automation will be of great benefit to us all -- John Diebold>

Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged.
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You should use in the end/finally.

Our basketball team tried hard but was defeated in the long run.

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