Hi.
I am having confusions with verb tense. If "could" is the past tense of "can", then how can "could" be used in a sentence to describe a future event like the following:
I could fail math class next week.
The word "should" (which is the past tense of shall) can also be used to describe future events like the following:
If you should ever find yourself in such a situation...
The second question I have is if I am in a room with a friend and I ask that friend to pass a pencil to me by saying, "Billy, could you pass that pencil to me". Is that sentence correct? I use "could" instead of "can" to describe an event in the present or future instead of in the past. I hear people say it like that all the times, and I don't know if it's correct or not.
I am having confusions with verb tense. If "could" is the past tense of "can", then how can "could" be used in a sentence to describe a future event like the following:
I could fail math class next week.
The word "should" (which is the past tense of shall) can also be used to describe future events like the following:
If you should ever find yourself in such a situation...
The second question I have is if I am in a room with a friend and I ask that friend to pass a pencil to me by saying, "Billy, could you pass that pencil to me". Is that sentence correct? I use "could" instead of "can" to describe an event in the present or future instead of in the past. I hear people say it like that all the times, and I don't know if it's correct or not.