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Lucas21c Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
Util now/so far
Could you confirm which one is okay between A and B of each following pair?
1A. I didn't know, until now, that you have such a sense of humour.
1B. I haven't know, util now, that you have such a sense of humour.
2A. I didn't know so far that you have such a sense of humour.
2B. I haven't know so far that you have such a sense of humour.
Can I drop the commas in 1A and 1B respectively?
1A. I didn't know, until now, that you have such a sense of humour.
1B. I haven't know, util now, that you have such a sense of humour.
2A. I didn't know so far that you have such a sense of humour.
2B. I haven't know so far that you have such a sense of humour.
Can I drop the commas in 1A and 1B respectively?
Top answer
Actually, they all are faulty, and yes, you should drop the commas. I didn't know until now that you had such a sense of humour. "so far" doesn't work in the given context.
- Actually, they all are faulty, and yes, you should drop the commas.
- I didn't know until now that you had such a sense of humour.
- "so far" doesn't work in the given context.
- In fact, I doubt it ever works with the past tense.
- CJ
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7 Answers
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Actually, they all are faulty, and yes, you should drop the commas.
I didn't know until now that you had such a sense of humour.
"so far" doesn't work in the given context. In fact, I doubt it ever works with the past tense.
CJ
I didn't know until now that you had such a sense of humour.
"so far" doesn't work in the given context. In fact, I doubt it ever works with the past tense.
CJ
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If the 'have' shoud be the past tense due to 'didn't know', could you tell me why "I heard he is smart" is right?
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lucas21cIf the 'have' shoud be the past tense due to 'didn't know', could you tell me why "I heard he is smart" is right?Actually, I can't. It must be a difference between how the verbs "know" and "hear" work.
CJ
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Could you tell me which one is right between (A) and (B) in the following sentence?
I knew she [ (A) is / (B) was ] kind.
I knew she [ (A) is / (B) was ] kind.
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lucas21cCould you tell me which one is right between (A) and (B) in the following sentence?I knew she [ (A) is / (B) was ] kind.B
"knew (that)", "thought (that)", "believed (that)", "assumed (that)", etc., all take the past. You'll never go wrong with those.
Maybe "heard that ..." is different because the information came from someon
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Thanks, CalifJim. Your explanation is very helpful and I think I almost got this issue. However, I'd like to confirm one more thing. In case of 'find', should it be "I found that he was a generous man" or "I found that he is a generous man"? How about "I found that I had lost my fountain pen" and "I found that I have lost my fountain pen"?
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lucas21cshould it be "I found that he was a generous man" or "I found that he is a generous man"? How about "I found that I had lost my fountain pen" and "I found that I have lost my fountain pen"?found that ... was
found that ... had lost
Nobody will put you in grammar jail if you use "is" and "have", but you can't go wrong when you match tenses
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