The meaning from the book

Question

What do you think why autor used this tense ?

Do you think he has been interfering with those kids ? (The guys is now in jail, but he asked mr. Frost)

and

I always let them fight it out to the bitter end, then I arrest the winner. It means hiding round the corner utnil they've finished.

Clive · Accepted Answer

~~What do you think why autor used this tense ?~~

Why do you think the author used this tense?

Do you think he has been interfering with those kids? (The guy ~~guys~~ is now in jail, but he asked Mr. Frost)

and

I always let them fight it out to the bitter end, and then I arrest the winner. It means hiding round the corner until ~~utnil~~ they've finished.

Which tense are you asking about? Note also that I've corrected a number of other errors in your writing.Clive

CalifJim · Answer

Xenon02 Do you think he has been interfering with those kids?
... The ~~guys~~ guy is now in jail

Are you thinking that his being in jail means the present perfect continuous tense is wrong because he can't continue to interfere from jail?

That's a very small detail that is so close to present time that the speaker can ignore it because the speaker is more focused on the guy's recent behavior before going to jail. In any case, the answer to the question has current relevance, a mark of the present perfect.

Xenon02 I always let them fight it out to the bitter end, then I arrest the winner. It means hiding round the corner until they've finished.

Subordinating conjunctions of time (when, until, before, after, ...) can take either the simple tense or the perfect tense without much change of meaning.

If the main clause is in the present, the subordinate clause is in the present or the present perfect.
If the main clause is in the past, the subordinate clause is in the past or the past perfect.

It means hiding ... until they [finish / have finished].
It meant hiding ... until they [finished / had finished].

This example does not have the problem of deciding between the simple past and the present perfect.

CJ

The meaning from the book

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