Tell the time by him because he always finished work...

[Lyubomir]

Thank you Alan.
Regards,
Lyubomir

[Solomon_Liwanag]

i, too, am not very comfortable with the answer: "he always finished work", since the mere mention of always, indicates that the verb is regularly done, and i think it should have been finishes/or ends, as in the song, "it always ends up to one thing, honey when I look and you're not there..."

[Mister Micawber]

Yankee's original remark says it all, Solomon: "Yes, the word 'always' is very often found in a present tense sentence. But it can also be used with other tenses." I suggest that you get comfortable with it.

He always finished work at 7:00 when he was alive.
He will always finish work at 7:00 when he gets his new job.
He has always finished work at 7:00 since he began his new job.
Etc.
_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Olgavic]

Hi! I could understand about the tense, but I am very confused about the difference between "finish" and "end" in this case. Can anybody help me?

[Mister Micawber]

It is merely a matter of collocation. We 'finish work', not 'end work'.
_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Olgavic]

Thank you very much. This is a very simple explanation :-))

[Nasir Afridi]

Hi sir
would you please let me know,,,when finish + objective mean finishing work and end+object mean usually breaking or ending some thing,,,am confused in this please explain
I can't differentiate

[Mister Micawber]

For the most part, 'end' and 'finish' are interchangeable. It is not an important point. Work on your capitalization and punctuation instead-- those are much more critical.
_________________
Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Vietanhpham_Winter]

Finished is correct as we dont use the verb end here.
_________________
Nothing's impossible! Never say never! They're what I've been following. Hope you to follow them too!

[Rampradeep]

yes amy .It is quite enough

[Maindola.amit]

Hi, when we say a thing which is true or true in general or when we give an adage, we use present simple right !!
here in this sentence i think we should use finish as what they are person is trying to say here is a truth about the timing of work.

With reference to could and can. we could use "could" in any sentence, could is also past tense of can. I mean to say that we can replace "can" by "could". for eg:-

can you pass me the spoon, please ?
could you pass me the spoon, please ?
both are correct ok
but there are some sentences where you can't use can instead of could.
refer to the book Raymond Murphy-English grammar essentials

[Allahmadadi]

hi proffessor
thanks for your time
I always answer the questions by 8-10 out of 10.
I hope with your assistance i could get development and then i will be able to answer them all.
thank you

[Allahmadadi]

here are some examples about today's lesson.
My name is siamak.
My wife is a physisian and his job is interesting for her.
Our child now is 11 years old.her talent in Graphic is so high
our home is located in Tehran.its view is realy fantastic.

[Omarrizk]

The Trick has been made and the deed is done. As far as I know, "always" and "everyday" indicates the use of Simple Present as textbooks stresses. If this person is "retired" as mentioned by Yankee "used to+inf" should be used to express his past routine or habit. The word "could" indicates that we have to keep the same tense in the second part of the sentence, but "always" and "everyday" are sill misleading.
Comments are appreciated. Thanks in advance

[Maryxuanhuo]

Hi Torsten,

I did this test and I got 6 score out of 10. At number 8, I don't understand why it using simple present but answer is simple past. Can you explain for me?

Thanks for yours help.
Regards.
Xuan Huong