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ErV 08-26-2008 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frenchn00b (Post 3260530)
Hi,

Should we say:
Quote:

it was a long day today
or
Quote:

it has been a long day today
or
?

"IT was a long day today", IMHO.

Because when you say "it was" it means that day is already over.

"Has been" is typically used when some kind of action was continuously (I.e. "day was being long" :) in the past) performed during long period before the moment when you talk, but this action is finished at the moment when you talk.

At least that's how I understand it.

P.S. You should read books about times of english verbs. Ideally books should be written in your native language.

frenchn00b 08-26-2008 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErV (Post 3260540)
"IT was a long day today", IMHO.

Because when you say "it was" it means that day is already over.

"Has been" is typically used when some kind of action was continuously (I.e. "day was being long" :) in the past) performed during long period before the moment when you talk, but this action is finished at the moment when you talk.

At least that's how I understand it.

P.S. You should read books about times of english verbs. Ideally books should be written in your native language.

and if you say it at 23pm, "it has been a long day today" talkign about work from 8-17pm. It is right?

ErV 08-26-2008 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frenchn00b (Post 3260641)
and if you say it at 23pm, "it has been a long day today" talkign about work from 8-17pm. It is right?

Honestly, explaining forms of english verbs (which I use intuitively) using same forms of english verbs is a bit complicated.

Take a look at this:
http://www.whitesmoke.com/past-progressive-tense.html
http://www.lbt-languages.de/english/...lernhilfe.html

And try to find tutorials like this:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KtB87Z...eature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4jcJBi...eature=related

Looking at the google search results I can say that both "was long day" and "had been long day" are used.

esteeven 08-26-2008 04:48 PM

It was a long day today.

This can be correct, depending on the time of day and what the speaker and listener agree to be the meaning of today. The use of the past simple (was) indicates that the "day" being referred to is over (BUT the "real" day ie the one ending at midnight) is not over because "today" would need to be referred to as "yesterday." The day being referred to could certainly be a working day or something like a day of travel. The speaker does not expect there to be more of the same activity that made the day long to follow.

It has been a hard day today.

The present perfect simple (auxiliary "have" + past participle) indicates that a period is not over. Here it means "so far" or "up until now." There is the potential for more difficulty to follow but we require more information.

brianL 08-26-2008 05:04 PM

It's been a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong day today.

brianL 08-27-2008 05:54 AM

It was a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong day yesterday.

There's your answers.

gnashley 08-27-2008 11:16 AM

" Quote:Originally Posted by alan_ri
Well,I think that I have the highest number of edited posts because of grammar corrections then any other member since LQ started back in 2000 ,and that's because this is international forum and we "must" use international language and I want that what I post here will make sense to whoever will read it and if I'm not careful with my english then that would not be so maybe,like sometimes when I just couldn't understand what the OP meant to say in his post.

what a long sentence ! "

If alan_ri is a German, that would be considered a pretty short sentence. I've seen longer ones where they used the split infinitive with several conditional and other clauses in between the infinitive root and its' compound part. Of course this is a no-no in English but is correct in English. I won't try to compose an example in german as I would surely botch it, but here's the wy one might go in English, using the common infinitive 'pick up':

At seven every evening, I _pick_ my wife, who works long hours in a large factory for very little money and even less thanks, and then has to come home to make supper for myself and our seven screaming children, though she has no energy left and always scolds me for not helping out more, even though I am disabled and can't help it, from work _up_.

I won't belabor the example any more, though it could still stand a few dozen words of 'fleshing out' without exagerating at all. When first learning German, this type of construction can really drive you mad. Usually one can't bear the suspense and must skip ahead to the end of the sentence to _pick up_ the other part of the verb so that the intervening ramble makes more sense, or is at least bearable.

frenchn00b 10-04-2008 03:21 AM

Hi guys,

can we say :
Code:

"I have milk untolerance ?"
it sounds strange, no?
What in us you would say... ?

brianL 10-04-2008 04:49 AM

I would say "I have milk intolerance", but I'd be telling a lie.

WorldIsNotFair 10-04-2008 05:36 AM

Hello friends, my english is bad.

When typing in international forum like this, i only hope for tolerance ... hihihi

Its very hard to master english language if u don't face with it everyday.

maybe when someone post, member who knows english better should help to correct it.

so, mr BrianL from England , is there any mistake on this 5 lines :p ?

brianL 10-04-2008 06:03 AM

WorldIsNotFair
Just a few little slip ups, but not bad.
Use you instead of u.
hahaha not hihihi.
Don't use it every day is better.
Then these:
someone posts
members who know
are there any mistakes in these 5 lines

But as long as we can get a good idea of what you mean, it doesn't have to be 100% correct. So don't worry about it. I can't speak any other languages, so you're better than me. :)

immortaltechnique 10-04-2008 11:45 AM

Ill go with brianL on this one. If it sounds right, then its correct

loperz7 10-04-2008 05:31 PM

You can always use AbiWord or maybe OpenOffice - red lines are mistakes (catt instead of cat) and green lines are syntax errors (Brian have a baseball).

Debian

immortaltechnique 10-04-2008 09:26 PM

Quote:

(Brian have a baseball)
Lol Brian can makes a great English teacher. This sort of reminds me of the spelling thread we had some time back where people wanted to become gooros and muderaturs:p

brianL 10-05-2008 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by immortaltechnique (Post 3300492)
Lol Brian can makes a great English teacher. This sort of reminds me of the spelling thread we had some time back where people wanted to become gooros and muderaturs:p

You mean goorrooz and moddurraturz don't you?
My spelchekks werkin perficktlie.


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