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Usenet Posted 20 years ago
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Question about tenses

Could I ask for some grammar expert's advice here, please?
I can identify the errors in the following sentences, but I also want to explain why they are errors and to name the correct tense that should be used.
Assistance much appreciated, thanks.
a) It's high time we will finish it.
b) I can't come to the movie tonight because I will go to the theatre with John.
c) I've been to Japan three years ago.
d) He asked me what can he do for me.
James
  

Top answer

[nq:1]Could I ask for some grammar expert's advice here, please? I can identify the errors in the following sentences, but ... name the correct tense that should be used.

  • [nq:1]Could I ask for some grammar expert's advice here, please?
  • I can identify the errors in the following sentences, but ...
  • name the correct tense that should be used.
  • Assistance much appreciated, thanks.
  • [/nq] This should use the subjunctive "that we finish it", rather than a future nuance.
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17 Answers
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[nq:1]Could I ask for some grammar expert's advice here, please? I can identify the errors in the following sentences, but ... name the correct tense that should be used. Assistance much appreciated, thanks. a) It's high time we will finish it.[/nq]
This should use the subjunctive "that we finish it", rather than a future nuance. If you wish to leave the "that" out, no problem: "It's high time
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[nq:1]I can identify the errors in the following sentences, but I also want to explain why they are errors and to name the correct tense that should be used. a) It's high time we will finish it.[/nq]
Verbs have several qualities, of which tense is only one. For "finite" verbs, the full collection is voice, mood, tense, aspect, number, and person; the infinite forms the participle, the infiniti
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[nq:2]b) I can't come to the movie tonight because I will go to the theatre with John.[/nq]
[nq:1]This sentence illustrates the verb quality called "aspect". The two aspects are "terminate", which represents the act as a finished ... modern tendency being toward using "will" for futurity in all persons, though the matter is far from a settled one.)[/nq]
I disagree. The only reason for usin
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[nq:1]So the correct form for that sentence is: . It's high time we finish it.[/nq]
I would say, 'It's high time we finished it.'
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[nq:2]I can identify the errors in the following sentences, but ... be used. a) It's high time we will finish it.[/nq]
[nq:1]Verbs have several qualities, of which tense is only one. For "finite" verbs, the full collection is voice, mood, tense, ... it would be "I/you/he/she/it/we/they finish". So the correct form for that sentence is: . It's high time we finish it.[/nq]
I would say (BrE)
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[nq:2]So the correct form for that sentence is: . It's high time we finish it.[/nq]
[nq:1]I would say, 'It's high time we finished it.'[/nq]
You wouldn't be wrong in doing so.
"~~ that we finish it."
"~~ that we finished it."
"~~ that we had finished it" (at a stretch).
"~~ that it be finished."
"~~ that it was finished."
"~~ that it were finished."
"~~ that it
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[nq:2]. He asked me what he could do for me.[/nq]
[nq:1]I agree - "can" is incorrect to my ear.[/nq]
I'm afraid that the difference between "was able to then" ("could") and "is still able to now" ("can") has been pretty much lost in the mists of time. Walker will insist on making the distinction, because his grammar is based on hugely out-of-date texts; but precious few other people worry
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[nq:2]So the correct form for that sentence is: . It's high time we finish it.[/nq]
[nq:1]I would say, 'It's high time we finished it.'[/nq]
That is certainly an acceptable casting, albeit with a sense a slight shade different from the original. The past subjunctive suggests more doubt, uncertainty, while the present subjunctive implies more hope, definiteness. The past form has thus come
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[nq:2]Thus, the wanted form is: . He asked me what he could do for me.[/nq]
[nq:1]I agree - "can" is incorrect to my ear.[/nq]
Could that be so? Yes, it could. The original has its time sense bollixed: the indirectly quoted person in the past was not asking what he can do in our present, which is his future, but in his present, which is our past. As a direct quotation, the sentence
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(Sorry, meant to pick this up in a prior posting.)
[nq:2]This sentence illustrates the verb quality called "aspect". The two ... persons, though the matter is far from a settled one.)[/nq]
[nq:1]Except in formal writing I would go with "I am going".[/nq]
"I am going" can certainly express futurity, provided the context supplies the needed sense (which "tonight" does here). But that is

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