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For Manhattan guide experts, if any!!

by srst » Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:26 am
This is an excerpt from Manhattan Guides:

The first instance of the verb should usually match the helping verb in tense. If you need to change
tenses, repeat the whole verb in the new tense.
Wrong: I have never seen an aardvark, but last year my father DID.
Right: I have never seen an aardvark, but last year my father saw one

Can anyone help me explain what is it trying to convey?? I do understand by logic and usage of grammar that latter is the right answer but how does it support the text mentioned??

Any help would be appreciated!!
Thanks alot :)

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by ceilidh.erickson » Mon Jul 07, 2014 12:59 pm
We use helping verbs as a shorthand for verbs already mentioned:

I DID NOT see an aardvark, but my father DID.
or
I DO NOT see an aardvark, but my father DOES.
or
I HAVE NOT see an aardvark, but my father HAS.

In each case, the tense of the helping verb has to be the same as the tense of the verb that it's replacing. In the example:
I have never seen an aardvark, but last year my father DID.
the "have never seen" is present perfect, but "did" is simple past tense. Since the meaning of the sentence specifies two different time periods, we shouldn't use a helping verb here.
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education