[Grammar] 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 :tick: (also: passed) my driving test. I should confess, I [STRIKE]haven't[/STRIKE] didn't. On my first test I (had run ) ran :tick: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:tick: 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:tick: the car to the nearest service station where I (pay) paid:tick: for the petrol. Then I (had tried) tried :tick:several times but the car wouldn't (start:tick:) [STRIKE]have started[/STRIKE]. I (was feeling) felt (Both are possible) awful. I am not surprised that I (failed:tick:) [STRIKE]have failed[/STRIKE] 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.

 

[White Hat]

Here is how I'd do it:

Dear Anna,

You wanted to know if I [STRIKE](had) [/STRIKE]passed my driving test. I should confess, I [STRIKE](haven't)[/STRIKE] 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.

 

[bhaisahab]

Here is how I'd do it:

Dear Anna,

You wanted to know if I [STRIKE](had) [/STRIKE]passed my driving test. I should confess, I [STRIKE](haven't)[/STRIKE] 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 ((((

 

[5jj]

[FONT=&quot]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.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]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.[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT]

 

[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

 

[marin123]

thank you very much ))) You helped me a lot!!!

 

[5jj]

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 some of my many incarnations, I have been a cycling proficiency instructor, a motor cycle instructor/examiner and a (car) driving instructor and instructor trainer. If I had got there first, I would have said exactly what emsr2d2 wrote in her last post. It is incredibly unlikely, in BrE at least, that anyone would misunderstand "Do you /breɪk/ on curves?"

 

[5jj]

"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.

I don't see any 'strong' indication either way.