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Newguest Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

tenses

0Hi02br
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00I'd like to ask which tense it is better to use in the sentence below.02br
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01b00I never had my own flat, I've been always renting rooms, and this is what I'm still doing. 02b00Maybe: I've never had my own....... How about: .... and this is what I still do (instead of "doing")?0-
  

Top answer

0I've never had my own flat, I've always rented rooms, and still do 0-

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  • 0I've never had my own flat, I've always rented rooms, and still do 0-
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17 Answers
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0I've never had my own flat, I've always rented rooms, and still do 0-
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0I feel that the original is perfect, should/if you want to emphasize the 01b00continuity of renting02b00 rooms to the present time 0-
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01cite10Newguest12cite11b10I never had my own flat, I've been always renting rooms, and this is what I'm still doing.12b12blockquote
10Are there too many commas in the sentence?0-
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01cite10Yoong Liat12cite12br
11blockquote
11cite20Newguest22cite21b20I never had my own flat, I've been always renting rooms, and this is what I'm still doing.22b22blockquote
20Are there too many commas in the sentence?12br
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12blockquote
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01cite10Marius Hancu12cite10I feel that the original is perfect, should/if you want to emphasize the 11b10continuity of renting12b10 rooms to the present time 12blockquote
10Yes, I want to emphasize the continuity.02br
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00However if I wrote "I've never had...." it wouldn't chan
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0As it is, the original has a comma splice - an incorrect joining of two independent clauses with a comma.02br
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00I would also keep the tenses consistent. I've never had my own flat. I've always rented rooms, and that's what I'm still doing.02br
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00If you remove that comma before "and" you will have THREE independent clauses joined by commas - two
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0Upon further thinking, 02br
00 I've never had02br
00would make more sense and create more uniformity of style0-
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1blockquote
01cite10Grammar Geek12cite12br
10As it is, the original has a comma splice - an incorrect joining of two independent clauses with a comma.12br
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10I would also keep the tenses consistent. I've never had my own flat. I've always rented rooms, and that's what I'm still doing.12br
12br
10If you re
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0I think two sentences are better, but if you want to keep it as one, you must have a conjunction. The comma alone is NOT correct.02br
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00I've been always renting is awkward order and "always" doesn't fit well with a past progressive (have been -ing).02br
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00I've alway rented -- includes now02br
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00or 02br
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0I see. So whenever I use "always" it's better to use the present perfect rather than the p.p. continuous, and it will mean that it continues to the present time.02br
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00Thank you0-
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