This year

Question

HiAre all these tenses correct with 'this year'. My teacher says No2 isnot.1.John is studying law this year.2.John studied law this year.3.John has studied law this year.4.John has been studying law this year.5.John will study law this year.Regards

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

AnonymousAre all these tenses correct with 'this year'?

Yes.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJimYes

And No2?

Rover_KE · Answer

Correct if John studied law earlier that same year.

Fivejedjon · Answer

Many coursebooks and student grammars suggest that expressions such as today and this week/month year etc refer to time-periods not yet completely past, and are compatible only with the present perfect.

However, it is possible to view the time-period referred to as past. This is obvious in a sentence such as #1, uttered in the evening:

1. I saw John this morning.

We say this morning becase it is part of the current day; however, the morning part of the day is clearly past.

The pastness of part of the time-period is not so immediately clear in #2, but will be known to speaker and listener:

2. I studied law this year, (but I am not going to carry on with it next year).

By using the past tense, the speaker indicates that the study, and the time-period in which it took place, are past, even though that past time-period is part of the current year. In #3. by way of contrast, the speaker suggests that the study, or the consequences/relevance of it, are part of the current time-period.

3. I have studied law this year.

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymous CalifJimYesAnd No2?

Yes. Number 2 is included in "all", which is what you asked. I really don't know what your teacher is yammering about with regard to number 2. You can find sentences like that by the thousands.

I paid my income taxes on time this year.
The Smiths planted beans this year.
We bought a new car this year.

There is a tendency in these sentences to portray this year in contrast to last year so that in the examples above, perhaps the sentences were said in order to focus on the facts that I paid my taxes late last year, the Smiths planted eggplant last year, and we didn't buy a new car last year.

CJ

This year

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