0
MarvinTheMartian Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
"Play" or "playing"; "wear" or "wearing"
Hello,
First, I would like to start by saying that I am a unilingual English speaker. Unlike many posters on this site, I am not trying to learn English, but rather to regain my fluency, so to speak. Allow me to explain: my brain acts very much like a sponge - it indiscriminately absorbs every audio / visual stimuli it gets subjected to. I seem to lack the ability to filter out information. I often get very confused as a result of hanging out with people of different ethnic backgrounds. Indeed, when someone talks to me, I subconsciously incorporate their speech pattern, bad grammar and all. Since many of my friends are not native English speakers, I'm often told by fellow anglophones that my English sounds "weird" or "unidiomatic". Sometimes, it gets so bad that I even forget how to speak!!!
Anyway, I digress... At the moment, I'm having trouble with conjugation. In the following two sentences, I can't make up my mind whether to use the simple present or present progressive. Both alternatives seem logical to me:
"When I go to the record store, I can tell which clerk is in from the type of music that plays / is playing."
"You can tell when she is sad by the clothes she wears / is wearing."
Thank you very much in advance. And please correct me when I write something that strikes you as misphrased or awkwardly worded. I may post some more questions in the future.
First, I would like to start by saying that I am a unilingual English speaker. Unlike many posters on this site, I am not trying to learn English, but rather to regain my fluency, so to speak. Allow me to explain: my brain acts very much like a sponge - it indiscriminately absorbs every audio / visual stimuli it gets subjected to. I seem to lack the ability to filter out information. I often get very confused as a result of hanging out with people of different ethnic backgrounds. Indeed, when someone talks to me, I subconsciously incorporate their speech pattern, bad grammar and all. Since many of my friends are not native English speakers, I'm often told by fellow anglophones that my English sounds "weird" or "unidiomatic". Sometimes, it gets so bad that I even forget how to speak!!!
Anyway, I digress... At the moment, I'm having trouble with conjugation. In the following two sentences, I can't make up my mind whether to use the simple present or present progressive. Both alternatives seem logical to me:
"When I go to the record store, I can tell which clerk is in from the type of music that plays / is playing."
"You can tell when she is sad by the clothes she wears / is wearing."
Thank you very much in advance. And please correct me when I write something that strikes you as misphrased or awkwardly worded. I may post some more questions in the future.
Top answer
Martians are not unilingual English speakers; their first language is Martian B2Xx. "When I go to the record store, I can tell which clerk is in from the type of music that is playing. "
- Martians are not unilingual English speakers; their first language is Martian B2Xx.
- "When I go to the record store, I can tell which clerk is in from the type of music that is playing.
- "
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
5 Answers
0
Martians are not unilingual English speakers; their first language is Martian B2Xx.
"When I go to the record store, I can tell which clerk is in from the type of music that is playing."
"You can tell when she is sad by the clothes she is wearing."
"When I go to the record store, I can tell which clerk is in from the type of music that is playing."
"You can tell when she is sad by the clothes she is wearing."
00
Thank you, Mister Micawber! I thought as much. Indeed, it does sound more natural to use the present progressive in these sentences. However, from a logical standpoint, I still don’t understand why it would be improper to use the simple present tense. After all, in both cases, “to play” and “to wear” are what you could call “repeated actions”.
P.S.: “David Copperfield” is a favorite of mi
P.S.: “David Copperfield” is a favorite of mi
00
It would not be improper-- just odd. We are thinking about an action at a point in time-- we notice the wearing and the playing as a unique instance, not as a repeated action.
00
Agreed. However, in a sentence such as "you can tell when someone is angry from the way they move", the use of the simple present seems more appropriate. Why?
Sorry to be such a bother. As much as I enjoy cultural diversity, living in a cosmopolitan society has its inconveniences. It makes it very hard for me to express myself properly. I'm constantly second-guessing myself!
Sorry to be such a bother. As much as I enjoy cultural diversity, living in a cosmopolitan society has its inconveniences. It makes it very hard for me to express myself properly. I'm constantly second-guessing myself!
00
I suppose because we always move the same way, while we only play certain music or wear certain things on particular occasions.
0
Related Questions