Past Tense

[jack]

Are these correct? What do these mean?
1. That was how you spell it?
2. That was how you spelled it?
3. That is how you spell it?
4. That is how you spelled it?

 

[Casiopea]

1. That was how you spell it? past+present
2. That was how you spelled it? past+past
3. That is how you spell it? present+present
4. That is how you spelled it? present+past

 

[jack]

Are these correct? If not why? What do they mean?

Sometimes I see these signs at resturants but I don't know if it is right or wrong. How do you know?
1. Open: 24hrs
2. Opened: 24hrs
3. Opens: 24hrs
3. Sunday: Closed
4. Sunday: Close

Also, sometimes I see switches that say 'open' and 'close', what does it mean? Why doesn't it say 'opened' and 'closed' How do you know which one to use?

Are these correct? What do they mean?
5. Sometimes I see these signs at resturants but I don't know if it is right or wrong. How do you know?
6. Sometimes I see these signs at the resturants but I don't know if it is right or wrong. How do you know?

Are these correct? If not, why?
7. How was the run?
8. How was the ran? (This is wrong right? Is it because a question can only have one subject and verb? What's the subject and verb for this question?)

9. The run was okay.
10. The ran was okay. (Why is this incorrect?)

What do these mean?
11. I don't know what the negative comments in other reviews were all about.
12. I don't know what the negative comments in other reviews are all about.

13. I don't know what the negative comments in other reviews were all about.
14. I don't know what the negative comments in the other reviews were all about.
What does #13 and #14 mean?

Are these correct? What does #15 and #16 mean?
15. Commission people can make a lot of money.
16. Commissioned people can make a lot of money. (How do you know if I need to add -ed or not?)

 

[Casiopea]

1. Open: 24hrs Try, Open 24hrs, without the colon ( : ).
2. Opened: 24hrs Try, Was opened 24hrs ago.
3. Opens: 24hrs Try, Opens in 24hrs.
3. Sunday: Closed
4. Sunday: Close I see this sign a lot in Japan. What happened to the "-d"?? :lol:

Also, sometimes I see switches that say 'open' and 'close', what does it mean? Why doesn't it say 'opened' and 'closed' How do you know which one to use?

Actually, the switch should read: on (i.e., switch on) and off (i.e., switch off). 'open' and 'close' are direct semantic borrowings. For example, they are words I used to use when I lived in a French speaking community. French uses the concepts, open the light, close the light.

Sometimes I see these signs when I'm at a resturant, but I don't know if they are right or wrong. How do you know?

7. How was the run?
8. How was the ran? ('was' is already carrying the tense; change 'ran' to 'run').

9. The run was okay.
10. The ran was okay. (See 8.)

11. I don't know what the negative comments were all about.
12. I don't know what the negative comments are all about.
13. I don't know what the negative comments were all about.
14. I don't know what the negative comments in the other reviews were all about.

15. Commission people can make a lot of money.
16. Commissioned people can make a lot of money.

'commissioned' describes 'people'.

 

[jack]

Thanks.

What do these mean?
1. Inventory data last updated today.
2. Iventory date is last updated today.
3. Iventory data was last updated today.

Sometimes I see these signs when I'm at a resturant, but I don't know if they are right or wrong. How do you know?

Is this correct?
4. Sometimes I see these signs (when I'm) at resturants, but I don't know if they are right or wrong. How do you know?
Is this correct without 'when I'm'? If not, why?

Are these correct? If not, why?
5. The store is open 24 hours.
6. The store is opened 24 hours. (If this is incorrect, why? Isn't this a 'to-be' sentence?

 

[Casiopea]

2. is incorrect. In that context, 'today' implies before now (i.e., past tense)
4. is correct. (when I'm)
5. & 6. Please see your other post on this topic.