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Ant_222 Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

Present Perfect, the use of

0 Hello, everybody.02br
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00Could you check wheteher I have made any mistakes in the choice of tenses in the following sentence:02br
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00«Yesterday, at the exhibition, a lot of people told me it was impossible to write a 1000-page book in a month but I have written my "Brief Introduction to Arithmetics", which has 1280 pages in a small font, in a space of three weeks»02br
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00Can I use Present Perfect in this way?02br
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00Thanks in advance.02br
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00P.S.: I know the sentence is rather weird... 0-
  

Top answer

0 Yes, possible, with some variations:02br 02br 00 «Yesterday, at the exhibition, a lot of people told me it was impossible to write a 1000-page book in a month but 01b 00I02b 00 01b 00know [now, at home] (that) I have written02b 00 my "Brief Introduction to Arithmetics", which has 1280 pages in a small font, in a space of three weeks» 02br 02br 00 «Yesterday, at the exhibition, a lot of people told me it was impossible to write a 1000-page book in a month but01b 00 I02b 00 01b 00knew [then, at the exhibition] (that) I had written02b 00 my "Brief Introduction to Arithmetics", which has 1280 pages in a small font, in a space of three weeks» 0-

— Marius Hancu

  • 0 Yes, possible, with some variations:02br 02br 00 «Yesterday, at the exhibition, a lot of people told me it was impossible to write a 1000-page book in a month but 01b 00I02b 00 01b 00know [now, at home] (that) I have written02b 00 my "Brief Introduction to Arithmetics", which has 1280 pages in a small font, in a space of three weeks» 02br 02br 00 «Yesterday, at the exhibition, a lot of people told me it was impossible to write a 1000-page book in a month but01b 00 I02b 00 01b 00knew [then, at the exhibition] (that) I had written02b 00 my "Brief Introduction to Arithmetics", which has 1280 pages in a small font, in a space of three weeks» 0-
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9 Answers
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0 Yes, possible, with some variations:02br
02br
00 «Yesterday, at the exhibition, a lot of people told me it was impossible to write a 1000-page book in a month but 01b00I02b00 01b00know [now, at home] (that) I have written02b00 my "Brief Introduction to Arithmetics", which has 1280 pages in a small font, in a space of three w
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0 «Yes, possible, with some variations»02br
00Ok, thanks.02br
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00But I didn't fully understand you: is it correct without variations, without inserting "I know"? 0-
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0 Yes, it works without the insertions, those are just for forcing the past perfect or the present perfect tense, in order to show that both are possible. 0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Ant_22212cite10«Yes, possible, with some variations» Ok, thanks. But I didn't fully understand you: is it correct without variations, without inserting "I know"?12blockquote
10Along the same line with Marius, I'd like to add a couple cents.02br
02br
00I know (it it possible because) I have
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0 Thank you.02br
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00Am I right that the same can be written in Past Simple instead of Present Perfect:02br
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00«I know (it it possible because) I wrote ....in a time span of 3 weeks»02br
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00At least, in AmE... 0-
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0 I know this is possible because I01b00 wrote02b00 such a book in a time span of 3 weeks01b00 last year.02b00 01font00Use simple past when you have a time interval unconnected with the present. 02font0-
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0 «I know this is possible because I wrote such a book in a time span of 3 weeks last year.02br
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00Use simple past when you have a time interval unconnected with the present.»02br
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00Well, will it become connected to the present if I just remove explicit indication of time ("last year")? 0-
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0 01pre
01b00«I know this is possible because I wrote such 02b02pre
01pre
01b00a book in a time span of 3 weeks 00last year.02b02pre
01pre
02pre
01pre
01font00Without the time phrase “last year”, the context was clear02font02pre
01pre
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0 Sorry, but you confused me, Goodman...02br
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00The first example, wherein Present Perfect is used, doesn't have a time phrase and, as you said, is correct:02br
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00«I know (it it possible because) I have written ....in a time span of 3 weeks. This is a statement you make now and it's correct.»02br
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00In the second example, d
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