[Grammar] Why "rehearsing?" [Harvey was asked what time he would be through rehearsing.]

[Lumia625]

Why "rehearsing?" [Harvey was asked what time he would be through rehearsing.]

Hello,

I want to know why in the following sentence we must use "rehearsing?" I used "rehearse" but it was wrong; Don't know why it is wrong and even why "rehearsing" is correct. would you please explain it?

Harvey was asked what time he would be through (to rehearse) (rehearse) (rehearsing).

Thank you in advance.

 

[Roman55]

Re: Why "rehearsing?" [Harvey was asked what time he would be through rehearsing.]

'Be through' in this context means 'have finished', so it can't be followed by an infinitive or conjugated verb. The correct answer is 'rehearsing'.

However, this use of 'be through', although understood, is not really natural in BrE.

You could make a case for 'to rehearse' being the right answer, if you take 'be through' to mean 'come into the place where the rehearsal is taking place'.

 

[Lumia625]

Re: Why "rehearsing?" [Harvey was asked what time he would be through rehearsing.]

'Be through' in this context means 'have finished', so it can't be followed by an infinitive or conjugated verb. The correct answer is 'rehearsing'.

However, this use of 'be through', although understood, is not really natural in BrE.

You could make a case for 'to rehearse' being the right answer, if you take 'be through' to mean 'come into the place where the rehearsal is taking place'.

Thank you so much for explanation but after reading your answer I was faced with another problem. (Don't know could I write this sentence grammatically or not). :-D

You said that "be through" means "have finished," therefore if we want to rephrase the original text it will be as follows:

"Harvey was asked what time he would have finished rehearsing."

The above sentence is third conditional and denotes that Harvey was asked when he had finished rehearsing. Am I right?

But I'm not sure how can I make a sentence denoting as the following situation: (It's about past time)

David asked Harvey hurriedly that when he would finish rehearsing.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Re: Why "rehearsing?" [Harvey was asked what time he would be through rehearsing.]

'Be through' in this context means 'have finished', so it can't be followed by an infinitive or conjugated verb. The correct answer is 'rehearsing'.

However, this use of 'be through', although understood, is not really natural in BrE. It is natural in AmE.

You could make a case for 'to rehearse' being the right answer, if you take 'be through' to mean 'come into the place where the rehearsal is taking place'. That is not natural in AmE.

MNY

 

[bhaisahab]

Re: Why "rehearsing?" [Harvey was asked what time he would be through rehearsing.]

"Harvey was asked what time he would have finished rehearsing."

This means that Harvey didn't rehearse and he was asked what time he would have finished if he had.