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New2grammar Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

past/present tense

0Let's say a car travels from A to B and it takes/01font00took02font00 30 minutes.02br
02br
00First, place a card on the desk. Next, apply chemical Y to the surface of the card. Since you 01font00didn't02font00/don't soak the card in chemical X before applying chemical Y, the card will catch fire.02br
02br
00I believe in both sentences above, past tense verbs are needed. Although grammar rules say that instructions/hypothetical situations can take present tense, it is necessary to use past tense when refering to past actions, for example, instructions before the current instruction.02br
02br
00Please correct me if I am wrong0-
  

Top answer

02font 02br 02br 01font 00Either sounds accepable to me, although I prefer present tense. One consideration is the word00 'it'. 02font 00Does 'it' refer to the car or is it a non-specific 'it' (eg It takes 6 hours to fly from Toronto to Vancouver')?

— Clive

  • 02font 02br 02br 01font 00Either sounds accepable to me, although I prefer present tense.
  • One consideration is the word00 'it'.
  • 02font 00Does 'it' refer to the car or is it a non-specific 'it' (eg It takes 6 hours to fly from Toronto to Vancouver')?
  • 02br 02br 01font 00Firstt, place a card on the desk.
  • Next, apply chemical Y to the surface of the card.
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3 Answers
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0Hi,02br
02br
01font00Let's say a car travels from A to B and it takes/took 30 minutes.02font02br
02br
01font00Either sounds accepable to me, although I prefer present tense. One consideration is the word00 'it'. 02font00Does 'it' refer to the car or is it a non-specific 'it'
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0Either sounds accepable to me, although I prefer present tense. One consideration is the word01font00 'it'. 02font00Does 'it' refer to the car or is it a non-specific 'it' (eg It takes 6 hours to fly from Toronto to Vancouver')? For the later, I'd definitely use present tense.02br
02br
01font00I agree tha
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0Hi,02br
02br
01font00I don't understand why you said it is hard to generalize. Could you give me some examples where instructions can take present tense when they refer to previous instructions?02font02br
02br
00If I could have thought of a good example, I would have offered it to you. It's just that my intuition makes
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