I always heard people say things like     we worked yesterday until seven at night.   But working spans over a course of time, so I think this is much preferable:     We had worked yesterday until seven at night.   But will it be right if it is never "spoken"?
577
Non-na­tive speak­ers of­ten get con­fused about what the var­i­ous tens­es  and as­pects mean in English. With in­put from some of the folk here I've put to­geth­er a di­a­gram that I hope will pro­vide some clar­i­ty on the mat­ter.  I of­fer it as the first an­swer to this ques­tion. Con­sid­er it a liv­ing doc­u­ment. In­put is wel­come, and good sug­ges­tions will be  in­cor­po­rat­ed in­to the di­a­gram.    No­ta bene: What this is not is a dis­cus­sion of whether there are  more than two tens­es in English. , to which this ques­tion is not in­tend­ed to sup­ply ar­gu­ments one way or the oth­er.  Here, the aim is to pro­vide an overview of what con­struc­tions English-speak­ing peo­ple use for con­vey­ing in­for­ma­tion about ac­tions re­fer­ring to past, present, and fu­ture, and to pro­vide it first and fore­most to pre­cise­ly the peo­ple who are like­ly to use "tense" as a catch-all term in their search, rather than to lin­guists who know bet­ter.  Break­ing News There is now an ex­cel­lent ELU blog ar­ti­cle ti­tled  . It is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed read­ing.
29787
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)
122063
Is this sentence correct?      I did it yesterday, but I’m not going to do it again.   I’m not sure about it. Should I replace “it” with “that”?         I did it yesterday, but I’m not going to do it again.    I did it yesterday, but I’m not going to do that again.    I did that yesterday, but I’m not going to do it again.    I did that yesterday, but I’m not going to do that again.       Are all versions correct?
9670
Are these expressions syntactically correct and semantically equivalent? What is general rules for "number-time noun" and "number time' noun" from semantic point of view?    "a day's work" vs "one-day work" "two days' notice" vs "two-day notice" "one year's pay" vs "one-year pay"     also see .
89247
I came across an English learner writing     It snowed hard Monday.   After saying that it didn't snow on Friday and Saturday.  It didn't quite feel right to me.  I'd be okay with     It snowed hard.   or     It snowed Monday.   Is it okay for there to be two things ("hard" and "Monday") modifying the snowing without an "on" breaking things up a bit?
49198
I have found multiple questions touching on this but not a single one that has a comprehensive answer. The information is all there but in little bits.     etc.   Exactly why is "Do not you sleep?" ungrammatical (except in poetry/with artistic license)? I understand that not can't contract after you: "Do you not sleep?" because not can only contract after a verb, and that it always does after do: "Don't you sleep?" but why does it (why must it) contract if it's placed after the verb in a question?   Don't you sleep? (common form) Do not you sleep? (ungrammatical) Do you not sleep? (less common form)
53406
It is to be discussed.   Is be + infinitive forming the future tense here?      You are to be dressed and ready by 8:00.   I was thinking it's almost commanding (or speaking of a command) but this doesn't seem to be the case, as sentences like this are commanding without this structure:     You will be dressed and ready by 8:00.   or      You are going to be dressed and ready by 8:00.   And there's sentences like this that don't imply commandment in any way:     I am to go home tomorrow!   or     I am to be home tomorrow!   (Slightly different meaning, same general sentiment)  So what's going on with the be + infinitive structure?
58862
I know the rule is to use past simple when you specify the time when the described action happened, but I strangely dislike this sentence and I'm not sure if the rule applies:   "It's the best movie I saw this year".  Shouldn't it be: "It's the best movie I've seen this year"?  Please, could you justify your answers? Thank you in advance!  Cheers
48162
Why can we use the following statement when we mean future events?     What time do you get there?   Or should we rather say:     What time will you get there?   Is there a difference?
1650
From the grammatical point of view all are correct, just the meaning are different, please bring your clarification, thank you.        The Train will leave at 10:00 tomorrow morning.   The Train is going to leave at 10:00 tomorrow morning.   The Train leaves at 10:00 tomorrow morning.   The Train is leaving at 10:00 tomorrow morning.
26857
This  states that:  When you use the present perfect tense you have to be talking about a period of time that you still consider to be going on. For example, if it’s still morning, you can say, &quot;I’ve shaved this morning.&quot; If it is afternoon or evening, all of a sudden &quot;I’ve shaved this morning&quot; sounds really weird.  &quot;I've shaved this morning&quot; sounds more like past perfect, and indication of specific time (in the morning) makes this sentence incorrect.  Am  I spot on? Then what is the difference between the construct of past perfect, present perfect and future perfect?
53855
My friend asked me just today, "Hey, how are you?"        I said, "Tired, sleepy, and can't concentrate on my work."      He then asked, "Why so?"   Here is where the interesting part starts.       I said, "I have had a headache yesterday"   He said that I should have said "I had a headache yesterday" instead of "I have had a headache yesterday"  But all grammar books say that with Present Perfect + Past Tense we mean an action that continues into the present; has consequences in the present.  I didn't want to just tell the fact that I had a headache but I implied that that was the reason I was "Tired, sleepy, and can't concentrate on my work."  Who is right?
53444
I'm looking for a couple of good coined phrases that I can use in front of business people, apologies if the one I had in mind offends anyone.   I'd use "can sleep at night" but I want the phrase to imply legal liability if we don't do something.
110813
I have a question about the use of the word to as a time proposition. Is to inclusive in the following sentence?     I worked at company X from April 2012 to April 2013.
17421
A friend of mine, native EN speaker, told me that the following is correct written like this:      We met on the 1st of June.   Is that really true? I cannot see any reference that these are used in written text.
25967
Just read somewhere about this puzzling puzzle:  What is the difference between:   I'm doing a twenty four-hour shift tonight. I'm doing a twenty-four hour shift tonight. I'm doing a twenty-four-hour shift tonight.   I know number 1 is 20 x 4 hours. Number 2 and 3 is the same as far as I know. Is this true?
54756
Where did you go last night?   Where went you last night?   Is there a reason we say the first of the previous two sentences as opposed to the last one?   I know the second sentence is ungrammatical. I was just wondering if there was more of a rule than just "asking questions in the simple past needs 'did' + verb in the present tense."