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Tenacious Learner Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Question on a statement (2)

Hi teachers,
According to this statement, 'He was a considerate man who had done well in his company.
Could this be the appropriate instruction? 'Write down what kind of man Hiroshi was'.
Am I right? Or I can only include, 'He was a considerate man.'

Thanks in advance.
  

Top answer

Thinking Spain Could this be the appropriate instruction? 'Write down what kind of man Hiroshi was'. Yes.

— Avangi

  • Thinking Spain Could this be the appropriate instruction?
  • 'Write down what kind of man Hiroshi was'.
  • Yes.
  • Thinking Spain Am I right?
  • ") If you're instructing students to "tell" what the sentence says, and wish to include both statements, you might say, "Write down what kind of a man he was and what he accomplished," or something like that.
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10 Answers
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Thinking SpainCould this be the appropriate instruction? 'Write down what kind of man Hiroshi was'.
Yes.
Thinking SpainAm I right? Or I can only include, 'He was a considerate man.'
If you include this, you're answering your own question (following your own "instruction.")

If you're instructing students to "tell" wh
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AvangiIf you're instructing students to "tell" what the sentence says, and wish to include both statements, you might say, "Write down what kind of a man he was and what he accomplished," or something like that.
Hi Avangi,
Thank you for your reply. Yes! I wish to include both staments. I just didn't know how to do it.
Now it is very clear.

Bes
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If these are very young children, you might say "what he did," rather than "what he accomplished."
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AvangiIf these are very young children, you might say "what he did," rather than "what he accomplished."
Hi Avangi,
Thank you for your reply. They are not very young children, they are adults. The thing is they're low intermediate students so it will work too.
On the other hand, shouldn't it be ' ...what he had done' instead of '...what h
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I struggle to find a difference in meaning in this case, but it might give them a cue to the answer by using parallel tenses.

Many English learners have difficulty with the perfect tenses. I was thinking they might be more comfortable with the simple past. (I don't think it's necessarily incorrect.)

<< H
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AvangiIf he has simply retired and is still alive, we could say, "He is a considerate man who did well in his company."
Not at all. He is still alive and wants to get married with his girlifriend.Avangi(I suspect this is of absolutely no help to you at all.)
Yes, it d
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Regarding the tenses, if he is still alive and still employed, I'd expect to hear something like,
"He is a considerate man who is doing well in his company."

The only justification I can imagine for using past tenses would be in an example of back shifting for "reported speech":
She said that he was a considerate man who is doing
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Hi Avangi,
Thank you for your detailed reply once again. Here is the part of the text that contains the sentence:

Inside there was a ring. It was a simple ring, perfectly chosen for her by someone who loved her. But part of her was thinking, ‘This isn’t happening to me.’ It was as if she was watching someone in a movie.

She knew her parents liked Hiroshi.
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Thinking SpainShe knew her parents liked Hiroshi.
Got it!

The past tense "knew" justifies putting the sentences which follow in the past.

Sorry about all the harangue.
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Hi Avangi,
Do not worry about the long speech. On the contrary I'm the one who is sorry about it. I should have written the whole paragraph from the very beginning.
I've learnt the lesson well, and I've also learnt the word 'harangue'.
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