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Johnj88 Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
splitting "have been" and tense problems
Hi, I just joined and found this forum. I'm currently a senoir in high school and working on my college applications; I need tons of help with grammar.
With that said, here's my question:
My allergies have often times been so oppressive—I once used a teacher’s whole box of tissues—that I swore to find a cure for allergies once I became a doctor.
This sentence has been annoying me for a while, and I can't get over it.
for the "have often times been," is that okay? I think theres a certain grammatical error thats called splitting or something. "have been often times," or "often times have been," kind of sound weird.
Also, I'm concerned with the tense of the sentence. For the part where I said "once I became a doctor." is that correct? The sentence is in the past tense, so I'm pretty sure this should be too, but then again I feel like "once I became a doctor." says that I've already become a doctor. I'm kinda confused
heres the entirety of my short response, just to give a sense of context:
My nasal allergies usually start with a sneeze; then, all of a sudden, my nose turns into bathtub faucet on at full blast. It’s the peculiarities of the body like this one that have always amazed me. My allergies have often times been so oppressive—I once used a teacher’s whole box of tissues—that I swore to find a cure for allergies once I became a doctor.
With that said, here's my question:
My allergies have often times been so oppressive—I once used a teacher’s whole box of tissues—that I swore to find a cure for allergies once I became a doctor.
This sentence has been annoying me for a while, and I can't get over it.
for the "have often times been," is that okay? I think theres a certain grammatical error thats called splitting or something. "have been often times," or "often times have been," kind of sound weird.
Also, I'm concerned with the tense of the sentence. For the part where I said "once I became a doctor." is that correct? The sentence is in the past tense, so I'm pretty sure this should be too, but then again I feel like "once I became a doctor." says that I've already become a doctor. I'm kinda confused
heres the entirety of my short response, just to give a sense of context:
My nasal allergies usually start with a sneeze; then, all of a sudden, my nose turns into bathtub faucet on at full blast. It’s the peculiarities of the body like this one that have always amazed me. My allergies have often times been so oppressive—I once used a teacher’s whole box of tissues—that I swore to find a cure for allergies once I became a doctor.
Top answer
"Often times" is a kind of American dialect. So I don't know about its 'grammatical' usage. But if it is equivalent to 'often', it will come at the position between 'have' and 'been'.
- "Often times" is a kind of American dialect.
- So I don't know about its 'grammatical' usage.
- But if it is equivalent to 'often', it will come at the position between 'have' and 'been'.
- As for 'once I became a doctor', you are right.
- It should be 'once I become a doctor'.
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1 Answers
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"Often times" is a kind of American dialect. So I don't know about its 'grammatical' usage. But if it is equivalent to 'often', it will come at the position between 'have' and 'been'.
As for 'once I became a doctor', you are right. It should be 'once I become a doctor'. This time-adverbial clause modifies 'find' so that its tense should be independent from the verb "swore" (a past form
As for 'once I became a doctor', you are right. It should be 'once I become a doctor'. This time-adverbial clause modifies 'find' so that its tense should be independent from the verb "swore" (a past form
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