the Past and the Present tenses in the same sentence

Question

Hi,"Oh, I was forgetting you are a little under the weather today..."Is this sample phrase OK?Would it be possible (or even preferable, etc.) to use "were" for "are" here?mus-te

Elanguest · Accepted Answer

Generally, the two tenses should match, so you could say,

Oh, I forgot you were a little under the weather today...

MUSCOVITE · Answer

Thank you for your comment but ...you see I was actually trying to figure out whether the expression "I was forgetting that..." was used correctly in my sample sentence... If you could give me a direct answer? Does the original sentence (with "I was forgetting that...) looks "passable" to native speakers?

Again, thank you for your help!

CalifJim · Answer

MUSCOVITEI was forgetting you are a little under the weather today.

It's OK.

MUSCOVITEWould it be possible (or even preferable, etc.) to use "were" for "are" here?

In my opinion, it's possible and preferable.
__________

As for "I was forgetting", it's grammatical, but not a common expression.

(Oh,) I had forgotten that ... was/were .... is frequently used.

CJ

Jacklong · Answer

By the way, what is the meaning of "under the weather"?

CalifJim · Answer

jacklong By the way, what is the meaning of "under the weather"?

not feeling very well

Marilyn is a little under the weather today ~ Marilyn is not feeling very well today.

CJ

MUSCOVITE · Answer

CalifJim,
THANK YOU SO MUCH!

One more question before closing this "micro thread"...

Is it possible to draw a parallel (in a sense) between "I was forgetting" and " I was hoping"?
Is the phrase "I was hoping" common?
When do native speakers tend to use "I was hoping that.."?

I guess there are other (more or less common) expressions built in this way:
"I WAS (PARTICIPLE I) that..."?

mus-te

CalifJim · Answer

MUSCOVITEIs it possible to draw a parallel (in a sense) between "I was forgetting" and " I was hoping"?

Only insofar as they are both in the past continuous tense.

MUSCOVITEIs the phrase "I was hoping" common?

I'd say it's fairly common. Yes.

MUSCOVITEWhen do native speakers tend to use "I was hoping that.."?

When they mean "I was hoping that ..."! I'm at a loss to explain this because I don't think I understand the angle you're approaching this from. It's an expression of the feeling of hope that had an indefinite duration in the past. Other than that, I don't know what to say.

MUSCOVITEI guess there are other (more or less common) expressions built in this way: "I WAS (PARTICIPLE I) that..."?

I suppose so. Any verb that can take a that-clause as its complement and is allowed in continuous tenses can form grammatical sentences in that pattern. Whether the resulting sentence is idiomatic is another question. Here are a few idiomatic expressions that come to mind easily.

I was
hoping, wishing, praying, saying, stating, suggesting, proposing, explaining, assuming, thinking, claiming, complaining, ...
that ...

Similarly, I was wondering if ...

CJ

MUSCOVITE · Answer

CalifJimWhether the resulting sentence is idiomatic is another question.

YES!! That's exactly what I was asking about!
You see I still don't understand the difference between
(1) "I had forgotten that you were new to this stuff" AND "I was forgetting that you were new to this stuff" (let's leave aside for a moment the fact that the former is much more common than the latter)
(2) "I was hoping that you could lend me these books" AND "I hoped you could lend me these books" AND "I had hoped you could lend me these books"

Not sure if my examples (above) are correct grammar... but if they are I would be happy to have your comments on possible differences among them :-)

Again, thanks a lot, CalifJim

Perfect Stranger · Answer

I like this topic.

CalifJim · Answer

MUSCOVITENot sure if my examples (above) are correct grammar.

All of your example sentences are grammatically correct.

MUSCOVITEI still don't understand the difference between ...

It may take more time working with English before you develop an intuition about these tenses. Essentially, you're asking about the past simple, the past continuous, and the past perfect, i.e., -- ed, was -- ing, and had -- en.

The usual intention of a speaker goes like this: The past simple indicates a situation that occurs at a definite time or within a definite block of time with a beginning and end. The past continuous indicates a continuously on-going situation (often an activity) that occurs for an indefinite period of time. The past perfect indicates a situation that occurred before some other past reference point in time.

I was hoping that ... (The hope continued for some indefinite amount of time. This is more usual than "I hoped ...")
I hoped that ... (The hope is conceptualized by the speaker as happening "all at once", as if it were a single event.)
I had hoped that ... (The hope occurred before some other past situation, such as before finding out that all hope is lost.)

"to forget" sounds like an event, even though it's a mental event, and "to hope" sounds like an interior emotion — at least to us English speakers. That's why "forgot" seems more appropriate than "was forgetting", and "was hoping" seems more appropriate than "hoped". The consequence of such observations — an odd consequence, perhaps — is that some verbs just aren't used much in certain tenses, even though every verb can be conjugated in all the tenses.

CJ

the Past and the Present tenses in the same sentence

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