The idea of this discussion was prompted by our good EC friend. Some learners turn out not to know grammar terms. I hope, you understand what I mean. It is what a phrasal verb or tense means. If you have any problems with grammar terms, just ask your questions. They will be answered at once.
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Dear teacher Tanya,
"If you use them both there shouldn't be the inversion" Thank you so much, I got that completely. :)
Dear Onee-chan! About Neither.. nor... If you use them both there shouldn't be the inversion, but your example is wrong in this case. Let me show you how to use this construction:
Neither he nor I am going anywhere today.
I can find this book neither here nor there.
He could neither know about it nor read about it anywhere.
I told neither him nor anyone else about that.
About the Subjunctive Mood. You see, you can't believe everything you read in the internet. I work at the department of English language and literature at the American university. We teach not only foreign people, but also American born to speak/write correctly. So, we use the Simple Past form of Subjunctive meaning the present, but we use the Past Perfect form speaking about the past. The forms don't change in the sequence of tenses. For example:
She behaved as though she had been a queen.
He said she behaved as though she had been a queen.
Please, ask your questions any time you feel like that!
Dear teachers,
Your example...
'She behaved as though she had been a queen' ----- I read in grammar book also on internet that when we use as if/as though in the past, it is said that we don't need to change the verb for the subjunctive. Here I am lost again... Will you enlightening my/our understanding.....? Lots of thanks.
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Thank you for your explanation, Sir Danny. So, the structure is the same when using it in present. I got that.
What if I use both 'neither ...nor'
Neither I knew much nor did I care about it. --------> Is this also correct?
Dear Seeker! No problem! Here is the explanation given by my wife a few years ago. Nothing has changed in English grammar since.
Hi, my friends! I was asked to tell about the Subjunctive and Conditional Moods. So, here you are!
Subjunctive Past and Perfect are used to express everything unreal.
Subjunctive Past is used when we speak about the present or the future actions. All verbs except "to be" are used in the form of the Simple Past Tense, i.e., with the ending -ed for the regular verbs (lived, wanted) or in the second form for the irregular verbs (knew, came). The verb "to be" is used only in plural(were) for all persons (I were, he were....).
Subjunctive Perfect is used when we speak about the past actions. All verbs are used in the form of the Past Perfect Tense, i.e., had+past participle, passive (had been, had known). The Subjunctive Mood is used in subordinate clauses.
Here are so called standard constructions. And don't believe those who say that Subjunctive is out of date. All the following constructions are used almost every day as there is no other way to express such thoughts and feelings.
1. as if/ as though
He speaks as if he were a director of the company. (In fact, he is not a director now.)
She behaved as though she had been a queen. (She was not a queen).
2. I wish (expresses one's regret)
I wish I were young! (I am not young and feel sorry for that. Nothing can be changed)
I wish he hadn't said that (but he said and it is a pity).
3. If only (expresses one's regret very emotionally)
If only he were by my side! (But he is not here now).
If only I had told you the truth (But I didn't).
4. It is (about) time
It is about time we left Italy (but we are still here, we are not leaving).
5. You had better (an advice that sounds like a threat, remember about it! We use it when we don't want to start arguing)
You are sick. You had better stay at home (If I say so, I mean that if you go out and feel worse, I wash my hands! I will not take care of you, I warned you!)
Do you want to go to the bar with your friends? You had better stay at home! (In this case I mean he may not return at all. It sounds like "Get out of my life!")
So, be careful using this expression.
We also use The Subjunctive Mood in the conditional clauses when conditions are unreal.
1. The Unreal Condition in the Present and the Future
If I knew his phone number, I would call him right away (It means that I don't know his number and can't give him a call now).
2. The Unreal Condition in the Past
If it hadn't been so hot yesterday, we would have spent the day outside (It means, it was really very hot yesterday and I spet all the day in the hotel room with the conditioning on at 20 C. Smile!).
3. The Mixed Condition. We use such conditional sentences when the reason was in the past and the result is in the present or future.
If I had answered your questions yesterday, I wouldn't have to do it today.
My dear friends! I'd also like you to pay your attention to using English tenses in indirect speech. If we use tenses incorrectly, we can sometimes offend a person without having any idea about it. I will tell you the story from my personal life. My late husband who died in the accident 5 years ago, was a lawyer and could practice both English and French laws and I surely knew about that. One day he told me: "I want that case in New Orleans (French Law)". I replied: "What bothers you? You said you had a degree in French Law".(I just made a mistake and he knew about that). But his reaction was absolutely abnormal. He said;" Darling! I still have it! Nobody took away my diploma! It is still hanging on the wall above your head!" Got it? OK, what I want to say is the following: if you use The Past Tenses in subordinate clauses reporting indirect speech your listeners may think you don't believe in what they said. For them it sounds like Subjunctive, i.e., something unreal. Please, be aware of that!
If you have any questions on this matter, feel free asking. I will gladly answer you all
Dear Onee-chan! Let me answer your question as Tanya and I take turns answering in all our discussions, blogs and groups. Now is my turn. Hope, you don't mind!
Both your sentences are right if you tend to speak British. In American we use "neither" instead of "nor":
"I didn't know neither did I really care about it".
But I think you mean the tenses. Yes, they are right if you mean that the first one describes some past actions. But there may also be one more option: you didn't know and don't want to know about it now. We should change the text a little:
I didn't know about that and neither do I want to.
If it is not clear enough, just ask more questions, OK?
Thanks for asking!
Here is my another question, dear teachers.
I learnt that we say...
** "I didn't know nor did I really care about it",,, what if we say it in present...
** "I don't know nor do I really care about it" ??? Is this right or wrong?
Once again, thank you... :)
Dear Abiba! It is not so easy to answer your question. I mean it is very time consuming. If you tell me your email I will be able to send you a few grammar books. But, in general, we use The Perfect Tenses if an action had/ has been or is expected to be before the mentioned moment. I see, you know the past tenses well enough. So, I will give you a few examples in the present and the future.
I have bought a car. (It means I did it, but I still drive it. If you say "I bought a car" you will be asked "Are you still driving it?")
I have just returned (means that you are at home or in your city now).
I will have finished this translation by tomorow (the action will take place before the mentioned date).
I'd like to say that in our daily life we mostly use the Present Perfect Simple. We use the Past Perfect when we tell about some actions in the past. But the Future Perfect Tense, especially Future Perfect Progerssive is used so rarely that even famous grammar books don't say anything about them.
Please, tell me your email for me to be able to send you some materials, OK?
Dear friends! I have just been asked a question about the difference between a noun and an object. So, I've decided to place it here.
Now, about a noun and an object. They are different grammar conceptions.
A noun is a part of speech, i.e., a word used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things (common noun), or to name a particular one of these (proper noun). So a noun is just a word: table, interest, boy, woman, life, happiness (common nouns) or Anny, Tanya, Kiev, America (proper nouns).
An object (or a complement as we say in American) is a sentence part that follows a predicate. There are two different objects: direct and indirect. For example:
Write me a letter.
In this short sentence "write" is a predicate, "me" is an indirect object and "a letter" is a direct object. It is so called the standard word order. We can transpose objects. In this case, there should be "to" before the indirect object:
Write a letter to me.
In this exapmple, the first sentence is better as there is no preposition. There is no sense to thranspose objects if both are simple (one word), but both sentences are correct.
Dear Afro! Your question is clear. Well, we say "I was in london a year ago (for example)", but "I have been to London". The idea is following. If the verb "to be" is used in any Simple form and is followed by the Modifier of place, the preposition is "in". If "to be" is in any Perfect form, the preposition is "to". There is no difference, it is just a grammar rule. Here are a few examples:
Before I visited Holland, I had been to Switzerland.
If you are in the USA, we can meet.
Is it clear? If not, just ask again, OK?
Dear Abiba! I don't understand what you mean. Would you like us to explain you all the Tenses? Or what? Will you specify your question, please?
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