Does "be on time" focus on the resultant state? My Japanese friend asked me this question today and I really wasn't sure aside from "are" maybe focusing on future tense and "be" focusing on now?
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Here are some examples.  "Until the Son of God appear" What I was taught: Subjunctive of indefinite future.  "It is required that the applicant be 18 years old and possess a valid driver's license." What I was taught: mandative subjunctive.  "Where be ye going," said the false knight on the road?" What I was taught: subjunctive of direct discourse.  "If I were you, which we both are thankful I am not, I wouldn't do that. What I was taught: The subjunctive mood is used for supposition contrary to fact.  "I dreamed I were a fireman in my Maidenform bra." What I was taught: The subjunctive mood can be used with words like dream.  "God bless you." I don't remember, so obviously I wasn't taught.  I can live with Pluto's not being a planet, but I must say it's irksome to find that so much of what I was told about English turns out to be nonsense.
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At the dentist's:     I was on time for my dentist's appointment, but the dentist was still busy with another patient, so I sat in the waiting room and read some of the old magazines lying there. All the while I was wondering whether to leave and come back another day .   Why past simple here and not past continuous? To me both actions are in progress they are not completed
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I am not good at English. And I used to say that I want to become a software developer. But Some people are using that I want to be a [something]. Which one is correct? And at what situations we should use which one? I read in many websites. Answers I have found so far are  Be is abbreviation of become. Both are same. Be is representing continuous thing. Become represents future.  I can't understand it because of people usage. Could anyone please further explain the difference between these two?
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I'm planning a trip. My plane lands on the 29th of August. Should I say:     I'll arrive on the last week of August.   or     I'll arrive in the last week of August.   Web searches show that both prepositions are used; reading a  made me more inclined towards "in", though I am still not sure.
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What's the difference between the following examples:   I noticed that the clock had stopped.  I noticed that the clock has stopped.    Some of them say that if the emphasis is laid on the subordinate clause then present perfect tense can be used, while some say if the emphasis is laid on 'noticing' then past perfect tense is to be used. How correct is this explanation?
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I wrote this to my friends a few days ago: (1) It used to take 5 seconds for me to reach Youtube, now it only took me 2 seconds to do it.  I used "now" to refer to the moment when I installed a faster connection hardware. I come up with this question, because I think the use of "now" in sentence 1 is informal and it is like a colloquial conversation. I am sorry my friends. Back in those days I was taught (by my English teachers, non-native speaker) that now must use in present tense, so the use of now sometimes confuses me.
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I took this photo by the lake last Saturday, Grandma. It looks lovely.   Do you know any of these people?      Yes, I do. The man who’s reading the newspaper is William.      He’s wearing a nice hat.      He is, isn’t he? Grandpa knows him, I think!   Why don't they say "he was wearing a nice hat" because that was happening in the past?  Can we use the present tense to describe people in a video?  For example, "Look at you in this video! You are smiling and swimming in a bathtub".
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It’s not easy to discern which to choose among ‘be going to’ and ‘will’ to express a near future plan or intention. I’m going to bring up two cases.  [A] In a situation that when one says “Oh, I’m hot,” while two are in the room, what can the other one say?: [A-1] I’m going to open the window. [A-2] I’ll open the window.  For ‘be going’ is concerned with ‘present intention’(CGEL,p.211-2), [A-1] seems to be possible; yet it’s also concerned with ‘present arrangement,’ it doesn’t seem to. How could I have arranged the opening window before his saying 'hot'?  However, [A-2] seems to be quite wilful to say in the situation. When it’s not a big deal to open the window, do I have to use my will? It could be said that 'will' is used in a implication that 'if you want, I will open the window'- as a conditional consequence.  How about this?: [B] In a situation that I’ve planned that I would learn to play the guitar after deeply impressed by a guitarist, what can I say?: [B-1] I’m going to learn to play the guitar. [B-2] I will learn to play the guitar.
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Would you please tell me which tenses are suitable here?  ... the sun (KEEP) burning forever? Sometime in the next twenty-five years, a spaceship with a human crew (LAND) on Mars.  My grammar book gives only two options: &quot;to be going to + verb&quot; and &quot;will + verb&quot;. But I wonder the reason why I should avoid using the &quot;continuous present&quot; tense.
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If the original question is "What time is it?" and I want to communicate it to another person, are these Embedded Questions OK?        I don't know what time is it.       or        I didn't know what time was it. (if communicated later)
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Which is correct?     The average time spent on reading in my country is disappointing.   Or      The average time spent reading in my country is disappointing   Generally for this sentence, do we need a preposition? Is "on" correct here, or might it be "in"?
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Ok, see , here is this tense matrix                     Past - Present - Future Simple Continuous Perfect Perfect Continuous   We also have the same tense structures for Modals                     Can - May         - Might - Must - Could - Would - Ought to Simple                 may do Continuous             may be doing Perfect                may have done Perfect Continuous     may have been doing   I would think the differences between "must live in Japan" &amp; "must be living in Japan" are:  Must here refers to a very high possibility. Things that you think is very likely to happen.  Ex: She must live in Japan (we also have "She lives in Japan" which means she lives there more or less permanently)  And when you want to emphasize a continuous process, say "She must be living in Japan" (we also have "She is living in Japan" which means she lives there more or less temporarily)  Ok, "must, might" are easy, but what about "should"?  My question is that: What are the differences between "I should live in Japan" &amp; "I should be living in Japan"?  Does "I should live in Japan" mean "I should live there more or less permanently"  &amp; "I should be living in Japan" mean "I should live there more or less temporarily"?  Note: "must" here refers to possibility not obligation. She must live in Japan (=it is likely that she lives there at this moment), not (She have to live there) as if it is obligation  "should" here refers to advice.
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According to A Student's Introduction to English Grammar, Tense is defined as follows:     Tense. A system marked by verb inflection or auxiliaries whose basic use to locate the situation in time: I liked it (past tense, past time), I like it(present tense, present time).   However, the author also points out:     ..., English is not one of them: it has no future tense. It does have several ways of talking about future time, and the most basic one does involve the auxiliary will.   These two quotes made me puzzled because, as noted above, Tense is denoted by inflection or auxiliaries and the auxiliary will seems to clearly meet the criteria. In conclusion, my question is   Why doesn't the auxiliary will qualify as future tense?
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I'm very confused about tenses.  I have examples in two different situations here. Situation 1: I went to New York two months ago and was talking to someone about it.  A. This is the first time I've been to New York. B. That was the first time I'd been to New York.  Which is correct in a daily conversation?  Situation 2: I'm going to New York next month and talking to someone.  A. This will be the first time I've been to New York. B. This is the first time I've been to New York. C. This will be the first time I go to New York.  Which sentence is appropriate?  According to a grammar article I've read before, I think it says that I can use this sentence in both cases:  This is the first time I've been to New York.  But I'm not sure if this is really so. So I'd like to know which tense I should use in each case. Could you explain it?
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If I seem tired, can I say: "I haven't slept last night"? If not, why have I been told that we use present perfect for actions that have present effects?
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It is time now   or      It is now time   Which of these expressions is grammatically correct?
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I am not sure if we can use the present for future events. I know we can use the historical present for past event, but I am not sure if we can use the present for future events.  Here's an example sentence where the present is used for future events:     You should ask God "What is the meaning of life" when he judges your   soul.   Is judges being in the present tense ok in this case?