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#2 (permalink) Mon May 17, 2004 9:16 am Time |
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Hi,
This means that you knew exactly what the time was because he stopped work at the same time every day - in other words when you saw him stop work then you knew it must be for example 5.30.
Alan _________________ English as a Second Language You can read my ESL story Present Simple |
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Alan Co-founder

Joined: 27 Sep 2003 Posts: 17284 Location: UK
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#3 (permalink) Tue May 18, 2004 10:48 am Tell the time... |
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Thank You very much Alan :-). |
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Iza I'm new here and I like it ;-)
Joined: 30 Mar 2004 Posts: 18 Location: Poland
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#4 (permalink) Wed Jun 22, 2005 4:28 am Finished? |
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Ok, that's a good explanation but why you didn't choose ends because as the sentence let us know; the activity is a normally one that the person does, so simple present is used for this kind of particular activities. Could you explain that, please |
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TAVO Guest
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#5 (permalink) Wed Jun 22, 2005 19:50 pm Uhm... |
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It might be because of the fact that in this sentece the modal auxiliary verb "could" is used thus indicating past tense. |
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Rich7 I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 519 Location: Caracas, Venezuela
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#6 (permalink) Wed Nov 23, 2005 2:43 am Tell the time... |
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Dear Alan,
Why it isn't ends? |
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thuytienhana Guest
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#7 (permalink) Sat Dec 03, 2005 15:00 pm Simple present tense |
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This sentence has two words that are context clues. These are "always" and "every day". So this sentence is in simple present tense. |
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A Guest
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#8 (permalink) Wed May 03, 2006 20:28 pm Tell the time... |
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Dear Alin:
I'm new in this forum and this is the first question I ask becuause I was confused when correct answer was finished! "he always" in the present , so, why did we choose "finished" which is a verb in the past...?
Thanx in advance, wish you a nice day..
Niveen |
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Niveen New Member

Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 4 Location: Palestine
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#9 (permalink) Wed May 03, 2006 21:10 pm Tell the time... |
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Hi everybody
Yes, the word 'always' is very often found in a present tense sentence. But it can also be used with other tenses.
As Rich7 mentioned, the word 'could' is also the past tense of 'can'.
For example, maybe we're talking about someone who worked in our company in the past. He retired last year, so he's not here (in the company) now. In that case, you can talk about what he always did every day when he worked here. And that would all be in the past.
Does that help? Amy _________________ "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8325 Location: USA
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#10 (permalink) Thu May 04, 2006 20:46 pm Thanx :) |
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Dear Amy:
your answer is very helpful, I'm now convinced, Thank You.... All the Best, Niveen. |
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Niveen New Member

Joined: 03 May 2006 Posts: 4 Location: Palestine
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#11 (permalink) Sun Jul 06, 2008 20:21 pm end or finish |
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Hi Torsten and the all forum mates,
I did the test and I got 6 right out of 10. I couldn't understand the rule for number 8. It is past simple withouth specific point in time, rsrs, why?
Once again the lessons are very useful because we keep learning without going to school.
See you,
Aurora |
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Aurora New Member
Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 5
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#12 (permalink) Sun Jul 06, 2008 20:26 pm end or finish |
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Hi Aurora,
Many thanks for your positive feedback. It's good to hear you find our materials useful. As for your question, please click here to get more information.
Best regards, Torsten
TOEIC listening, photographs: In a store |
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Torsten Learning Coach

Joined: 25 Sep 2003 Posts: 17788 Location: EU
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#13 (permalink) Sun Jul 06, 2008 20:44 pm Time |
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Alan wrote: | Hi,
This means that you knew exactly what the time was because he stopped work at the same time every day - in other words when you saw him stop work then you knew it must be for example 5.30.
Alan |
Dear Alan, Thank you for the clear explanation. Aurora |
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Aurora New Member
Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 5
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#14 (permalink) Thu Nov 20, 2008 6:36 am Tell the time by him because he always finished work... |
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Hi all, I too have a question.
The word "could" doesn't neccessarily indicate events in past, is that right? I often found in conversations with native speakers that it rather indicated the probability of something. That is "could" could be used in a situation that contains some uncertainty, and "can" expresses a higher probability of the event. |
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Kzie New Member
Joined: 11 Nov 2008 Posts: 4
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#15 (permalink) Thu Dec 18, 2008 7:39 am Tell the time by him because he always finished work... |
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Hi everybody, I have the same question as that of Kzie. Is there anyone can explain it for us? How to recognize when "could" refer to probability or the past tense form of "can"? |
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Trampham New Member
Joined: 09 Dec 2008 Posts: 3
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