OK folks, let's play a little game! I'll ask a question and the first answer that I consider correct, clear and complete gets 10 points. Even if there's a better answer afterwards, the fastest one still gets the 10 points. But the answer HAS TO BE complete and clear. (Of course I already know the answer. XD)
OK, those are the basic rules. You can do your own pop quizes too, if you want, with more interesting questions... :P
Can anybody tell me what's the difference between Simple and Perfect verb forms? For example:
"I saw." / "I have seen."
"I was seen." / "I have been seen."
Can both forms be used as synonyms in any case, or are there any particularities which we have to pay attention to?
Be quick about it... ;)
2006-08-18 09:34:51 · 11 answers · asked by LJ 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Structurally, tense is marked on the verb in Simple Past and on the auxiliary HAVE in Perfect with the verb marked as a past participle. There is also a subtle difference in syntactic usage. The Simple Past has reference to the physical context, that is, it is right now physically 5:32 pm here, so I can say "I ate" because I put food in my mouth before now. The Perfect has reference to the linguistic context, that is, "I am not hungry, I have eaten." The context is not supplied by the external time reference, but by the syntactic reference because "I am not hungry" is in the Present tense, so the eating happened before the "am not hungry". Sometimes people will use "I have eaten" to answer a question "Do you want to go to lunch?" (in which case the other speaker has supplied the linguistic context). They will use "I ate" in response to nonlinguistic references "There is a new Mexican restaurant in town" "I ate there yesterday" (in which case the physical context is "before you mentioned it just now").
2006-08-18 12:38:23 · answer #1 · answered by Taivo 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
thanx 4 the 2 points!
2006-08-18 11:40:15 · answer #2 · answered by [Teddy♥Bear] 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If a hen and a half can lay an egg and a half in a day and a half. How many eggs can six hens lay in seven days?
2006-08-18 09:44:02 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'll just take 2
2006-08-18 15:28:17 · answer #4 · answered by fb0581 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the first was in the past, the second is up to the present.
2006-08-18 09:45:26 · answer #5 · answered by vincevandamm 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
there are obvious differences in meaning and special cases etc, but i'll be darned if i'm going to do your homework for you.
2006-08-18 09:41:22 · answer #6 · answered by rosends 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
why are you trying to get others to do your work for you? If others do it, you won't learn a thing.
2006-08-18 09:45:02 · answer #7 · answered by simpleplan0013 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if u kno the answer and i kno the answer that's all that matters..i kno the answer i just don't want everybody else to see
2006-08-18 09:42:51 · answer #8 · answered by t_luv08 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
one of ems for rich people, and one of ems for the rest of us.
2006-08-18 10:56:34 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
past tense/present past tense.
2006-08-18 10:03:04 · answer #10 · answered by Swordfish 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋