tenses

[MIA6]

1 / 1) Is The 'simple present' tense NOT used for events which occur at the moment of speaking? So when events occur at the moment of speaking, we use the present continuous? as in 'He is looking for the ticket right now'. Is that the only Use of Present continuous tense? 2) BTW, Are "I am drawing the picture" and "I draw the picture" the same?

2. "I will not do this, Never, Ever." We often hear people say that. Question: WHat do "never","ever" mean here? I think "never" means at no time, so how about "ever"? It means at any time?

3. Is there any difference between "present perfect tense" and "present perfect progressive tense"? E.g. "I have lived here for 6 years." Vs. "I have been living here for 6 years." I think they are almost the same?

Thanks for replies.

[riverkid]

Originally Posted by MIA6

1 / 1) Is The 'simple present' tense NOT used for events which occur at the moment of speaking? So when events occur at the moment of speaking, we use the present continuous? as in 'He is looking for the ticket right now'.


Is that the only Use of Present continuous tense?

That's correct, MIA6. Because the present simple carries a meaning of a routine event, an habitual event, a general truth, we don't use it for a one time event happening at the moment of speaking.

As you've correctly noted [OR "As you correctly noted"] the present continuous is used. To use,

'He looks for the ticket right now'.

would sound very unnatural.

The present continuous is also used to discuss the future. It almost always contains a future time adjunct [addition].

I'm playing golf on Wednesday. Wanna come along?




2) BTW, Are "I am drawing the picture" and "I draw the picture" the same?

No, they aren't, as I explained above [OR "... I've explained above].


2. "I will not do this, Never, Ever." We often hear people say that. Question: WHat do "never","ever" mean here? I think "never" means at no time, so how about "ever"? It means at any time?

No, 'ever' just emphasizes the 'never'.

"I will never ever ever ever go there."

3. Is there any difference between "present perfect tense" and "present perfect progressive tense"? E.g. "I have lived here for 6 years." Vs. "I have been living here for 6 years." I think they are almost the same?


In this case, the present perfect used to describe 'continuation', they are pretty much the same.

xx

[whitemoon]

Originally Posted by riverkid

xx

In this case, the present perfect used to describe 'continuation', they are pretty the same, you've said.

Present perfect and persent perfect progressive are not pretty the same in this case.
I have lived here for 6 years.
It means I have lived here for 6 years, so I don't want to live here or I want to move other place. Present perfect refers to the effect.
I have been living here for 6 years.
It means I have lived here for 6 years,but I have to live on here( until I die.) Present perfect progressive shows the continuation-before,now and later.

[riverkid]

Originally Posted by whitemoon

In this case, the present perfect used to describe 'continuation', they are pretty the same, you've said.
Present perfect and persent perfect progressive are not pretty the same in this case.

Yes, they are pretty much the same here, Whitemoon. The present perfect performs a number of tasks [jobs] in English.

I have lived here for 6 years.
It means I have lived here for 6 years, so I don't want to live here or I want to move other place. Present perfect refers to the effect.

This is an example of the Continuative Perfect. Either question, "How long have you lived here? OR How long have you been living here?" has within it the feeling that the respondent STILL lives in the house, as do the replies.

Either answer, "have lived ..." or "been living ..." refers ONLY to the length of time the person has lived 'here'. This is not an example of the type of present perfect that denotes the effect of a past action. These answers are feeling neutral.



I have been living here for 6 years.
It means I have lived here for 6 years, but I have to live on here( until I die.) Present perfect progressive shows the continuation-before,now and later.

If what you say is/was true, then "I've been jumping for 30 seconds" must mean "I have to continue jumping until I die".

The Present Perfect that you're thinking of is the Present Perfect of Recent Past/Important Pasts. These tend not to be durative [continuous] type events [though they can be] but singular finished events that speakers feel are important.

Music, which is often concerned with love and love lost, makes frequent use of the present perfect illustrating important past actions.

Here are the lyrics from a song by Hall & Oates. The effect of the girlfriend leaving is important. What structure is chosen, "She's gone [She has gone], not "She went" or "She left".

Artist: Hall & Oates Lyrics
Song: She's Gone

Everybody's high on consolation
Everybody's trying to tell me
What is right for me, yeah
I need a drink and a quick decision
Now it's up to me, ooooh what will be

(Chorus)
She's gone, she's gone
Oh, why
Oh, why
I better learn how to face it
She's gone, she's gone
Oh, why
Oh, why
I'd pay the devil to replace her
She's gone, she's gone
Oh, why
What went wrong

Get up in the morning, look in the mirror
One less tooth brush hanging in the stand
My face ain't looking any younger
Now what I can see
Love's taken a toll on me

(Chorus)

Think I'll spend eternity in the city
Let the carbon and monoxide choke my thoughts away
And pretty bodies help dissolve the memories
There can never be what she once was to me

[whitemoon]

[quote=riverkid;111631]

From the bottom of my heart I'd appreciate knowledge you've shared.
" .....has within it the feeling that......."
What does it mean? "has" needs an object, doesn't it? Otherwise,is it an idiom?
Looking forward to reading your reply!
Whitemoon

[riverkid]

[QUOTE=whitemoon;111656]

Originally Posted by riverkid

From the bottom of my heart I'd appreciate knowledge you've shared.

Whitemoon, the 'would' contracted to <'d> refers to a future while the <you've shared> refers to the finished action of sharing. Because of this they don't fit together grammatically. Instead you want,

From the bottom of my heart I appreciate the knowledge you've shared.

But I understand your sentiments and I appreciate them very much.

" .....has within it the feeling that......."
What does it mean? "has" needs an object, doesn't it? Otherwise,is it an idiom?

WM,

It means the same as,

".....has the feeling within it that......."

For adverb placement, English allows a great deal of personal choice. I just choose to put the adverb phrase in that position.

Whitemoon

ww

[whitemoon]

[quote=riverkid;111732]

Originally Posted by whitemoon

ww

Thank you,riverkid!
I'm sure myself that I don't understand "the usage of would".I've thought that "would appreciate" is more polite than "appreciate",am I right?
Could you please explain me about it?

[riverkid]

[QUOTE=whitemoon;111738]

Originally Posted by riverkid

Thank you,riverkid!
I'm sure myself that I don't understand "the usage of would".I've thought that "would appreciate" is more polite than "appreciate",am I right?
Could you please explain it to me?

Sure, I will, Whitemoon.

From the bottom of my heart I'd appreciate knowledge you've shared.

Using 'would' does make a request more polite but a request is something that is to come sometime ahead of now, not something that is finished.

<I'd appreciate> has a future reference, a request for something ahead of the time of speaking/writing.

When you wrote <knowledge you've shared> it referred to the finished knowledge I had shared with you. So the two are grammatically incompatible.

FINISHED: From the bottom of my heart I appreciate the knowledge you've shared [so far OR up to now].

FUTURE POLITE REQUEST: From the bottom of my heart I'd appreciate any [future] knowledge you have to share.

Do you understand the difference, WM? If not, please feel free to ask more questions.

[whitemoon]

[quote=riverkid;111742][quote=whitemoon;111738]

Yes,I understand. Thank you very much.

[MIA6]

Hi, Riverkid. Thanks so much for replies. Here i have another question: What's the Use of a past continuous tense? e.g. I was eating a chicken. Did it happen at a moment of speaking? If so, past continuous tense has only this Use?