Sentence Correction

Hi there

Here are few sentences. Please correct them if they are wrong.

1. Three month into the course, "I already started regretting coming/going to X country." (Is the answer coming, if the person saying the sentence is still in the country? And if not in the country, 'going'...?)

2. Owing to surge in demand and drop in prices, around six million tables [were/are] expected to be sold. Why 'were' is right here?

Regards
Chinna

Chinn_asama wrote:Hi there

Here are few sentences. Please correct them if they are wrong.

1. Three month into the course, "I already started regretting coming/going to X country." (Is the answer coming, if the person saying the sentence is still in the country? And if not in the country, 'going'...?)

Is "Three month into the course" part of the sentence??
If yes, I think the correct sentence should be -

Three month into the course, I HAVE already started regretting coming to X[country].

1) Three months into the course shows: the continued effect in present. So use present perfect ie. HAVE STARTED.
2) COMING looks fine since it seems person is STILL present in that country.
GOING might be more relevant when speaker wish to emphasize on past decision of visiting to X[country].

Chinn_asama wrote: 2. Owing to surge in demand and drop in prices, around six million tables [were/are] expected to be sold. Why 'were' is right here?

Owing to surge in demand and drop in prices, around six million tables WERE/ARE expected to be sold.

The subject here is plural (Six million tables), so it can take any of these. However, it depends on the meaning the author wish to convey.

Sir,

Here is one more Q: The project was to submitted/had to be submitted before something in the past. Which one is right?

Thanks

Chinn_asama wrote:Sir,

Here is one more Q: The project was to submitted/had to be submitted before something in the past. Which one is right?

Thanks

I see you have a doubt on Past Tense and Past Perfect.

Past Tense : is used when we wish to talk about some completed action in the past. The action or any of its effect is not true in the present.
Eg: Yesterday, I TOOK the test.

Past Perfect: is used to refer the COMPLETED ACTION which occurred BEFORE a completed action in past tense. Something like PAST to PAST.
Syntax : HAD + past participle form of the verb

So for eg, lets say 2 different events occurred in the year 1914 and 1941, then the even that occurred in 1941 will take past tense and the event that occurred in 1914 will take past perfect tense.

Eg:
1) BEFORE I REACHED her place, she HAD already LEFT.
2) The students HAD SUBMITTED the assignment BEFORE they REACHED for the class.

When in doubt, talk to yourself and ask about the sequence of different actions/verbs in the sentence.

I hope this helps !!

Thanks.

sameerballani wrote:

Chinn_asama wrote:Sir,

Here is one more Q: The project was to submitted/had to be submitted before something in the past. Which one is right?

Thanks

I see you have a doubt on Past Tense and Past Perfect.

Past Tense : is used when we wish to talk about some completed action in the past. The action or any of its effect is not true in the present.
Eg: Yesterday, I TOOK the test.

Past Perfect: is used to refer the COMPLETED ACTION which occurred BEFORE a completed action in past tense. Something like PAST to PAST.
Syntax : HAD + past participle form of the verb

So for eg, lets say 2 different events occurred in the year 1914 and 1941, then the even that occurred in 1941 will take past tense and the event that occurred in 1914 will take past perfect tense.

Eg:
1) BEFORE I REACHED her place, she HAD already LEFT.
2) The students HAD SUBMITTED the assignment BEFORE they REACHED for the class.

When in doubt, talk to yourself and ask about the sequence of different actions/verbs in the sentence.

I hope this helps !!

Thanks.

The project was submitted before deadline.
Somebody had submitted the project before deadline.(change passive TO BE to active voice)

Both are correct. Words such as After, Before... in sentence can have simple past and past perfect tense.

Hi there

Here is the actual sentence. Not sure if this is grammatical.

My first assignment was to be submitted two months after classes started. Is this a right sentence?

When do we use 'was to be'

Thanks

Chinn_asama wrote:Hi there

Here is the actual sentence. Not sure if this is grammatical.

My first assignment was to be submitted two months after classes started. Is this a right sentence?

When do we use 'was to be'

Thanks

Ok.. there are few cases when we can avoid using past perfect and instead use past tense. This happens when the sequence is kind of but natural. Esp when supported by words such as BEFORE, AFTER, etc... HOWEVER, I usually see that the verb is in past perfect despite of these words being present...

On you sentence, I feel it should be -
My first assignment was to be SUBMITTED two months after the classes HAD STARTED.

WAS SUBMITTED: the assignment was ACTUALLY submitted
WAS TO BE SUBMITTED: It was required THAT the assignment be submitted, however whether it ACTUALLY was submitted or not, we have no idea.