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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > Help me, please!!
Help me, please!!
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szamoca
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Help me, please!!
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Dear Colleagues,
I found this in one of the printables:
J:And you finally managed to convince them, right?
S:Not only after I ....................(beg) for some time!
In the second sentence I would use Past Perfect Continuous: had been begging for some time
The exercise suggests Past Perfect Simple. What do you think ? Please answer quickly!
Thank you!Have a nice day!
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17 Feb 2010
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sandra46
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I would say that "had begged" was more suitable.
Sandra 46 |
17 Feb 2010
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SaraMariam
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I would also say had begged, because it happend before they got convinced, |
17 Feb 2010
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David Lisgo
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The "Not" is confusing for me.
Only after I begged them for some time! or "had begged". |
17 Feb 2010
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szamoca
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Thank you so much for all of you. |
17 Feb 2010
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aysentanrikulu
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I agree with saraa mariam. begging happened before convincing. so it is the first situation and must be in past perfect. |
17 Feb 2010
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PhilipR
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The NOT should not be there at all.
My first thought was �begged �. Had begged is surely correct as well and had been begging acceptable (although I �d never use it that way). |
17 Feb 2010
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mkosior
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szamoca - you are asking if it should be Pats Perfect or Past Perfect Continuous.
Because of "for some time" I would also use PPCont.
Can a native give us a hand here? :)
And I do not believe there is anything wrong with the "not" at the beginning of the answer. |
17 Feb 2010
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szamoca
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Yes mkosior. I felt that PPC would be better but of course it should be PPS. I personally haven �t got problems with �not �. The word �for � can really be confusing here that is why I thought using PPC.The word �after � goes with PPS.
Of course if you have some other comments I �m happy to learn.
Thanks for your comments.You really helped me. |
17 Feb 2010
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yanogator
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"Not only" is definitely wrong here. I would say either "Only after... " or "But only after..."
Had begged is the best answer gramatically, but the simple past "begged" sounds very natural, too.
Correction to my previous sentence:
I misread the sentence at first, and thought that the speaker was begging to be given some time to do something. Now that I have correctly interpreted it, "had been begging" is the best answer, because the emphasis is on the process (which is what the continuous tenses are about) rather than the result (which is what the simple perfect tenses are about). |
18 Feb 2010
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