Past and Present times

Question

Dear teachers, I have one question regarding past and present times. I need to write about thing that was happened in the past and then the report about current situation.

For example:

- The engine has not been worked in a car. Now, the engine works properly. (I mean that the engine was fixed and works fine for now).
- The engine did not work in the car. Now, the engine works properly. (I mean that the engine was fixed and works fine for now).
OR
- The web page was not appeared in the internet browser. Now, the web page is appeared in the internet browser.
- The web page has not been appeared in the internet browser. Now, the web page appears in the internet browser

What sentence is correct? If it is not correct, can you please tell me about my mistakes.

Best Regards,
pm039

Ant_222 · Accepted Answer

Hello, pm039.
Both tenses your examples are possible in appropriate in an context, though the examples with the Present Perfect need a little correction:
"The engine in the car (if you mean a certain car) has not been working. Now it works properly."
"The web page has not been appearing in the web browser. Now it is displayed correctly." (I used the "display" in order not to repeat "appear")
If you want to say that the engine has not been working for a certain period of time until now or until recently, then the Present Perfect Progressive should be your choice. To make your examples clearer, I will add an indication of time:
"The engine in the car has not worked since last week, when the injector broke. Now it has been repaired and works properly."
But if you mean that the engine did not work at a certain moment in the past, use the Past Simple:
"Even yesterday the engine did not work, but it works now".

Pm039 · Answer

Hi Ant_222,

Thank you very much for your answering. Your answer with examples is very helpful for me.
Just one thing is still unclear.

Let's take this sentence as example: "The web page has not been appearing in the web browser. Now it is displayed correctly."
If I need to emphasize the action when all happened.

- The web page has not been appearing in the web browser, when the user was entering the page address. Now it works properly.

OR

- The web page has not been appearing in the web browser, when the user entered the page address. Now it works properly.

What variant is correct?

Thank you,
pm039

Fandorin · Answer

Hi, Anton. Your statements are right but there is something I have got to object to. Most of state verbs are not used with continuous tenses.

Ant_222"The engine in the car (if you mean a certain car) has not been working. Now it works properly."

The state of the engine is obvious and "not working" is rather odd continuous action if taking into consideration that it didn't work in some point. Just say it in Russian

. Use Present Perfect here if the state of engine is up to date.

The engine in the car has not worked [for two weeks]. [Now it doesn't work also]

Don't use Perfect if the state is another now.

The engine didn't work, but now it works like new.

Ant_222The web page did not appear in the web browser. Now it is displayed correctly.

The same as above.

Ant_222If you want to say that the engine has not been working for a certain period of time until now or until recently, then the Present Perfect Progressive should be your choice

Actually, it depends on what you want to empasize - action or result. Compare this:

The ceiling has been painting by Jane. We are interested in the activity (its prolongation) itself and not in result. Notice, that the ceiling's painting can be done or not.

The ceiling has been painted by Jane. The activity is done, and it's general interest we are in, we don't bother about activity itself or its duration.

Fandorin · Answer

Hi, Pm039.

pm039Dear teachers, I have one question regarding past and present times. I need to write about thing that was happened in the past and then the report about current situation.

For example:

- The engine did not work in a car. Now, the engine works properly. (I mean that the engine was fixed and works fine for now).
- The engine did not work in the car. Now, the engine works properly. (I mean that the engine was fixed and works fine for now).
OR
- The web page didn't appear in the internet browser. Now, the web page appears in the internet browser.
- The web page has not been appeared in the internet browser. Now, the web page appears in the internet browser.

What sentence is correct? If it is not correct, can you please tell me about my mistakes.

Best Regards,
pm039

Fandorin · Answer

Hi, Pm039.

pm039Dear teachers, I have one question regarding past and present times. I need to write about thing that was happened in the past and then the report about current situation.

For example:

- The engine did not work in a car. Now, the engine works properly. (I mean that the engine was fixed and works fine for now).
~~- The engine did not work in the car. Now, the engine works properly. (I mean that the engine was fixed and works fine for now).~~
OR
- The web page didn't appear in the internet browser. Now, the web page appears in the internet browser.
~~- The web page has not been appeared in the internet browser. Now, the web page appears in the internet browser.~~

What sentence is correct? If it is not correct, can you please tell me about my mistakes.

Best Regards,
pm039

Fandorin · Answer

pm039"The web page wasn't appearing in the web browser. Now it is displayed correctly."

Don't use Perfect Tense with actions which are different now.

pm039 - The web page did not appear in the web browser, when the user was entering the page address. Now it works properly.

The state verbs describe states, the list of most useful here:

assume, appear ("to seem"),be, believe, belong, consider (in meaning "suppose, think"), consist , contain, cost, depend, detest, envy, equal, exist, expect, feel (in meanings "perceive","to be sense" ? "think"), fit , forget, hate, have (in meaning "possess"), hear, include, know, lack, like , look (in meaning "to be seen as"), love, matter, mean, need, owe, own, possess, prefer, realize, remember, see (in meanings "to perceive", "to comprehend"), seem, smell, taste (in meaning"to have a taste"), tend, think (in meaning "to consider"), understand, want , wish, weigh.

Renan torres-rivero · Answer

Hi, PM
Hope I can give you a clearer answer.
Firstly, we'd better use "display" instead of "appear". And, regarding the tenses, I prefer the following:

The web page wasn't displaying on the web browser when the user had entered the page address. (No comma needed, but used if the When-clause begins the sentence)

Here, we make it clear that the first action was "the entering of the page address", followed by the temporay misfunctioning of the web page.

We could say: The web page didn't display. But we wouldn't make it clear that the misfunctioning was an abnormal, temporary action. By using the past continuous, we show this was an unexpected, out-of-normal result.

Hope this help.

Regards,

Ant_222 · Answer

Fandorin: I don't think you are right. And I'll try to answer your posts a bit later.
pm039: The Past Simple variant seems better to me because the Past Progressive can make the reader think the two actions were simultaneous. Also I just don't see any need for Progressive tense anyway.
Anton

Fandorin · Answer

Ant_222Fandorin: I don't think you are right. And I'll try to answer your posts a bit later.

Ok, let's discuss.

Ant_222 · Answer

FandorinThe state of the engine is obvious and "not working" is rather odd continuous action if taking into consideration that it didn't work in some point. Just say it in Russian. Use Present Perfect here if the state of engine is up to date. Don't use Perfect if the state is another now.
Let me begin with a very common and idiomatic example: «Our site has been down since yesterday but now we back at last!». As you see, the currenct state is different, yet the Present Perfect is used! Another idiomatic expression: «Where have you been?», which means «Where have you been before you came here?». The state is again different and the tense is the Present Perfect.
As to your objection against the Present Perfect Progressive, with it too I cannot agree. The choice of tense strongly depends on the speaker's viewpoint. If this abnormal situation is seen as a continuous uninterrupted process, the Present Perfect Continuous is just right. Even if it has already ended (not long before the moment of speech though)
The Past Simple version:
«The web page did not appear in the web browser. Now it is displayed correctly.» is also possible, yes. But in a different context. It's more like the change-log style. It's used when the situation had never been right before it was fixed. You'll find such usage in change-logs.
FandorinActually, it depends on what you want to empasize - action or result. Compare this:
The ceiling has been painting by Jane. We are interested in the activity (its prolongation) itself and not in result. Notice, that the ceiling's painting can be done or not.

The ceiling has been painted by Jane. The activity is done, and it's general interest we are in, we don't bother about activity itself or its duration.
In this particular situation not only the emphasis, but the very meanings are different. And you made a typo in the first sentence.
The state verbs describe states, the list of most useful here
In pm039's example, "appear" is not a stative verb.

Past and Present times

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