Tenses

[marin123]

My task was to correct 10
mistakes deliberately made in the letter.

The tenses I believed to be wrong I put into brackets, and next to them I suggested the right variant. Please:
correct me if I found the mistakes exactly where they really were, and

say if I corrected the found mistakes right; write.



Dear Anna,
You wanted to know if I (was passed) had passed my driving test. I should confess,
I haven't. On my first test I (had run) ran out of petrol. Shortly after the restart the car (was stopping) stopped again, although I didn't brake. I (had tried) tried five times to restart it. The instructor got angry, he taught me how to restart a car. The examiner moved into the driving seat and I (had pushed) pushed the car to the nearest service station where I (pay) paid for the petrol. Then I (had tried) tried several times but the car wouldn't (start) have started. I (was feeling) felt awful. I am not surprised that I (failed) have failed the test.

[5jj]

You wanted to know if I (was passed) had passed (also: passed) my driving test. I should confess, I haven't didn't. On my first test I (had run ) ran out of petrol. Shortly after the restart the car (was stopping) stopped again, although I didn't brake ('hadn't braked' is better, in my opinion) I (had tried) tried five times to restart it. The instructor got angry, he taught me how to restart a car. The examiner moved into the driving seat and I (had pushed) pushed the car to the nearest service station where I (pay) paid for the petrol. Then I (had tried) tried several times but the car wouldn't (start) have started. I (was feeling) felt (Both are possible) awful. I am not surprised that I (failed) have failed the test.

Also possible for the first part is:

You wanted to know if I have passed my my driving test (yet). I should confess, I haven't.

I prefer 'must' or 'have to' to 'should' in 'I should confess', but that's not a question of tense.

[Bennevis]

Here is how I'd do it:

Dear Anna,

You wanted to know if I (had) passed my driving test. I should confess, I (haven't) didn't. On my first test I ran out of petrol. Shortly after the restart the car stopped again, although I didn't brake. I tried five times to restart it. The instructor got angry, he taught me how to restart a car. The examiner moved into the driving seat and I pushed the car to the nearest service station where I paid for the petrol. Then I tried several times but the car wouldn't start. I felt awful. I am not surprised that I failed the test.

[Gillnetter]

My task was to correct 10
mistakes deliberately made in the letter.

The tenses I believed to be wrong I put into brackets, and next to them I suggested the right variant. Please:
correct me if I found the mistakes exactly where they really were, and

say if I corrected the found mistakes right; write.


Dear Anna,
You wanted to know if I (was passed) had passed {had passed or passed}my driving test. I should confess,
I haven't. On my first test I (had run) ran out of petrol. Shortly after {Should be: after I restarted the car} the restart the car (was stopping) stopped again, although I didn't {Should be: use the brake or apply the brakes}brake. I (had tried) tried five times to restart it. The instructor got angry, {Should be: The instructor got angry and he taught me how to restart a car, or, The instructor got angry; he taught me how to restart a car} he taught me how to restart a car. The examiner {Are the examiner and the instructor the same person?} moved into the driving seat and I (had pushed) pushed the car to the nearest service station where I (pay) paid for the petrol. Then I (had tried) tried several times but the car wouldn't (start){start} have started. I (was feeling) felt awful. I am not surprised that I (failed) have failed {failed} the test.

Gil

[bhaisahab]

Here is how I'd do it:

Dear Anna,

You wanted to know if I (had) passed my driving test. I should confess, I (haven't) didn't. On my first test I ran out of petrol. Shortly after the restart the car stopped again, although I didn't brake. I tried five times to restart it. The instructor got angry, he taught me how to restart a car. The examiner moved into the driving seat and I pushed the car to the nearest service station where I paid for the petrol. Then I tried several times but the car wouldn't start. I felt awful. I am not surprised that I failed the test.

"I felt awful." As 5jj said, here both are possible.

[5jj]

Quote:
... Shortly after {Should be: after I restarted the car} the restart the car (was stopping) stopped again, although I didn't {Should be: use the brake or apply the brakes}brake. I (had tried) tried five times to restart it.

I think ‘shortly after the restart’ is fine – particularly if it is the test, rather than the car, that has been restarted.

I see nothing wrong in using ‘brake’ as a verb.

[marin123]

But here should be TEN mistakes to be correct :(((((( And with your corrections there are only nine of them left :(((((

[Gillnetter]

I think ‘shortly after the restart’ is fine – particularly if it is the test, rather than the car, that has been restarted.

I see nothing wrong in using ‘brake’ as a verb.

"Shortly after the restart the car (was stopping) stopped again"

Yes, I suppose one could use that term. From the text there is a strong indication that it was the car that was started again. Using "brake" as a verb...hmmm..."Do you brake on curves?" Brake could be used this way but isn't it rather awkward? Brake sounds too much like break - "Do you brake on curves? No, I'm fine after each curve."

[5jj]

If the original text was as I have printed it below, there are 8 tense mistakes (underlined) and one possible mistake (underlined + (?)). There are two other slips (in red). That’s how I see it.

You wanted to know if I was passed my driving test. I should confess,
I haven't. On my first test I had run out of petrol. Shortly after the restart the car was stopping again, although I didn't brake (?). I had tried five times to restart it. The instructor got angry, he taught me how to restart a car. The examiner moved into the driving seat and I had pushed the car to the nearest service station where I pay for the petrol. Then I had tried several times but the car wouldn't start. I was feeling awful. I am not surprised that I failed the test.

[emsr2d2]

"Shortly after the restart the car (was stopping) stopped again"

Yes, I suppose one could use that term. From the text there is a strong indication that it was the car that was started again. Using "brake" as a verb...hmmm..."Do you brake on curves?" Brake could be used this way but isn't it rather awkward? Brake sounds too much like break - "Do you brake on curves? No, I'm fine after each curve."

In BrE, "to brake" is absolutely fine and very common. In fact, "to apply the brakes" etc would sound unnatural.

I failed my test for braking too late.
He brakes on corners.
If you don't brake soon you're going to crash into the back of that lorry.
I braked far too late and spun off the road.

Learners just need to remember that it's:

break / broke / has broken
brake / braked / has braked