0
Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Tense

I have a question.

"Almost all the great country and western musicians play concerts here sometime."

I thought the above sentence refered to the future event because of 'sometime'.

However, the simple present tense is used in this sentence.

I know about the simple present tense is used to describe events that are scheduled to

happen in the future time.

but I thought the original sentence is not about scheduled events.

In my opinion, it's just a guess.

Could someone explain this problem?

thanks in advance.
  

Top answer

I would say: Almost all the great country and western musicians give concerts here [every] now and then / occasionally. The use of the present simple tense (give) implies that the musicians have done so so far and probably will continue doing so in future. But: I'll see him sometime next week.

— Cool Breeze

  • I would say: Almost all the great country and western musicians give concerts here [every] now and then / occasionally.
  • The use of the present simple tense (give) implies that the musicians have done so so far and probably will continue doing so in future.
  • But: I'll see him sometime next week.
  • (= at some point in time during next week) CB
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

1 Answers
0
I would say: Almost all the great country and western musicians give concerts here [every] now and then / occasionally.

The use of the present simple tense (give) implies that the musicians have done so so far and probably will continue doing so in future.

But: I'll see him sometime next week. (= at some point in time during next week)

0

Related Questions