Tense

[Rebala swapna]

Hi

This is swapna. I've just registered here.This is really a useful Forum for many aspirants who are eager to learn and communicate in English.

My query is:

I have read tenses many times and always find it very easy but there is still something that I feel is not understood.

The sentence: I have been suffering from fever since yesterday. (My doubt is whether we can use the past time adverb "Yesterday" or not. As there is a rule like with present perfect tenses we shouldn't mention the exact past time. For that, we have simple past. But here the action began in the past and is still continuing.

Please clarify my doubt.

 

[Buddhaheart]

"Yesterday" here is not an adverb of time; it’s a noun, meaning ‘the day before today’. The sentence doesn’t ”mention the exact past time” It doesn’t say ‘yesterday’ exactly; it says ‘since yesterday’. That is it says from yesterday continuously till the present. You must see the difference to appreciate this. The action (suffering from fever) begins in the past (yesterday) and continues to the present (today perhaps) and is likely to continue past the present time.