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New2grammar Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

tenses

0Let's say you've just resolved a problem and you say the following:02br
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00 It has been troubling me because sometimes I saw past tense being used and I always wondered why.02br
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00I'm quite certain the tenses are correct but wonder if I can say the following02br
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00 It has been troubling me because sometimes I 01b00see02b00 past tense being used and I always 01b00wonder02b00 why. (and maybe02br
00add, "Now, I feel the world has been lifted off my chest")02br
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00What do you think? If it is acceptable, how natural is it?02br
00Thanks!0-
  

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13 Answers
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0What you've written isn't 'wrong', per se, but a far more natural version would be:02br
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00 'It's been troubling me because I sometimes see the past tense being used, but always wonder why.'0-
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0Thanks badegine for your reply. 02br
00This is probably a difficult question to answer but I'm going to ask anyway.02br
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00Why is 'but' more natural than 'and' in this context?0-
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0Not at all.02br
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00'but' sounds more natural because you're dealing with a sentence with a negative implication: 'I see it used but I'm challenging why it is.'02br
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00If you were to agree with it, 'and' can be used - in a sentence such as 'I see it used and I'm sure that's correct.'02br
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00Does this make sense? It isn't a v
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0N2G, if you have resolved it, then don't say "It 01b00has02b00 been troubling me." Say "It 01b00had02b00 been troubling me."02br
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00In your second sentence, your tenses are consistent only if the doubt has not been resolved. 0-
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0Thanks badegine. Yes, I think I understand why you prefer to use 'but'. I see it as two independent actions, "I see it used" and then "I wonder why". While you see the second action as a resulting negative thought. Interesting 050010id1
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0I hate myself for not being able to be precise. I mean, in my mind I wanted to say "I have just 02br
00resolved it" but when I put my thought into words, I omitted 'just'. Does that make any difference now?02br
00I know it's grammatically correct to use the past perfect tense but can I choose to use the02br
00present perfect tense if the matter is resolved ju
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0Oh, geez... let's face it: every learner hates the present perfect continuous! 05002br
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00I would say "It's been bothering me" is ok if you are referring to NOW in some way, so it's ok if you are solving the problem NOW or you solved it just NOW ("just now" is basically still "now", if you want to see it that way)02br
00And "It had been bothering me" is ok
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0I was so glad before you edited your post! 02br
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00Let me provide an example and see if you're OK with the use of the present perfect02br
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00A: Yes! We've finally solved this flaw. Now the robot is moving around autonomously and we're ready for tomorrow's competition. 02br
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00B: I'm so glad! What a relief. The design of the
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0Fine - apart from the comma in b, which should be:02br
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00'I'm so glad! What a relief. The design of the control system has been troubling me, and sometimes when I look at the equations I wonder why the second variable is a function of y2.'0-
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0 I would say it's ok if you've been designing it up to now... and it's been troubling you.02br
00But if you gave up designing it at a certain point in the past, I'd use the past... it had been troubling you.02br
00Again, just my opinion. I don't understand the present perfect continuous either, I just pretend I do! 050010id4
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