Wrong tense?

Question

I would like to know why so many people have problems with using the right tense.  For example I hear the use of "was" or "wanted to" when I ask people what they are going to do in the future.  Was this something that was learned or simply picked up in our culture?

Tanit · Accepted Answer

Hi,

As far as I know, it's often a matter of politenes in sentences like "I wanted to ask you whether you could do me a favour".
Sometimes the past is used to express uncertainty, tentativeness, ask for confirmation etc., as in "I was thinking of going to Spain this summer. How does this sound to you?" (I am thinking this now, but I want to hear from my boyfriend whether he agrees or not before making a definite arrangement. Or, perhaps, I've already made up my mind but don't want to make him feel unimportant.

)

(I'm not a native speaker and this was just my take! Please wait for a native speaker.)

Have you got any specific examples in mind?

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousI would like to know why so many people have problems with using the right tense. For example I hear the use of "was" or "wanted to" when I ask people what they are going to do in the future. Was this something that was learned or simply picked up in our culture?

You seem to be looking at language as if it were mathematics. There is more to language than logic. Social customs enter into a good deal of it. Perhaps you are hearing various idiomatic uses of the tenses where the time aspect of tense is ignored in favor of other factors. It's not likely a cause for any further worry.

CJ

Wrong tense?

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