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Jimsefton2 Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

Present perfect and simple past??

0Hi,02br
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00I have been asked to form the following sentence into two sentences, one in present perfect and one in simple past:02br
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00The milkman have accident monday02br
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00I think its deliberately written to be confusing. In my mind I would say "The milkman have" rather than "the milkman had", but then that's not present perfect, is it?02br
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00Please can somebody enlighten me as to whether this sentence can be written as they would like?02br
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00Thanks in advance!02br
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00Jim0-
  

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— Yoong Liat

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10 Answers
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Jimsefton212cite10The milkman have accident monday12br
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10Please can somebody enlighten me as to whether this sentence can be written as they would like?12br
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10Thanks in advance!12br
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10Jim12br
12blockquote
10The milkman 01b
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0 Thank you for the rapid reply. I see where you are coming from with that, but personally I wouldn't expect to hear this sentence but rather "the milkman had an accident on monday".02br
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00Does this mean that02br
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00a) My grasp of English isn't what I thought it was02br
00b) This phrase doesn't suit being put in the present perfect ten
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0Hi Jim,02br
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00Generally, we don't use a specific time (on Monday) with the present perfect.02br
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00Yoong Liat's setences are just fine, but if you want to stick with the verb "to have" then:02br
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00The milkman had an accident Monday (simple past)02br
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00The milkman has had an accident. (But not: *T
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0 Hi Jim02br
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00"The milkman have ... " Please note that01b00 'have' is a plural verb02b00. So, it should be "The milkman has ... " and "The milkmen have ... "0-
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0 Thanks very much both of you, it's shocking how bad my grammar is despite being born and raised in England!02br
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00Cheers,02br
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00Jim0-
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0 Thanks again (both of you) for your replies. I never was very good at accurate grammar. I guess the thing that tripped me up was trying to use al the sections of the sentence (i.e. Monday) when it was impossible0-
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0 Hi Jimsefton201blockquote
00The milkman have accident monday12blockquote
10This just looks like a group of "base words" -- not a sentence. In other words, it looks like an exercise in which you have to write various sentences which include the words 'the milkman', the verb 'have', the word 'accident', and the word 'Monday'. 02br
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0 Yes you're right with the base words, another example is:02br
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00Miss Jones lost her car Thursday02br
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00This is what I got...02br
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00Miss Jones has lost her cat (present perfect)02br
00Miss Jones lost her cat on Thursday (simple past)02br
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00Am I on the right track here?02br
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0 Yes, you've got the forms of the two tenses straightened out.02br
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00Here again, 01b00if02b00 your instructions were that you must include 01u00all02u00 of the words, one of the few ways to include 'Thursday' in the present perfect sentence would be to write a negative sentence and use the word 'since':02br
01i
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0 Indeed, carless Miss Jones!02br
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00Thanks for your help, I'm finally getting there! 0-
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