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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Questions on tenses

Hi, please help. When you want to answer a question like "What is he doing?" could it be in the present tense instead of present continous?

Q: What is he doing?
A: He plays basketball.

Also, could we have a compound sentence where one clause is in the past tense and the other is in the present perfect continous tense or the present perfect tense? Thank you for your help in advance.

John was absent yesterday, but Joe has been coming to school regularly all week.
  

Top answer

A: He plays basketball. That is not a natural answer. Anonymous John was absent yesterday, but Joe has been coming to school regularly all week.

— Fivejedjon

  • A: He plays basketball.
  • That is not a natural answer.
  • Anonymous John was absent yesterday, but Joe has been coming to school regularly all week.
  • That's fine.
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3 Answers
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AnonymousQ: What is he doing?A: He plays basketball.
That is not a natural answer.
AnonymousJohn was absent yesterday, but Joe has been coming to school regularly all week.
That's fine.
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HI. Thank you. If the sentence "He plays basketball" isn't a "natural answer" to the question "What is he doing?" as you said, could we use the same sentence "He plays basketball" to depict what he is doing now? I hope my question is clear enough for you to help me. Any help from you will be appreciated.
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Anonymouscould we use the same sentence "He plays basketball" to depict what he is doing now?
Not normally.
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