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Ask for help > Question related to grammar
Question related to grammar
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Fallen Angel
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Question related to grammar
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Hello everybody!
One of my students in a composition wrote."It �s about time everybody wakes up from their "selfish little world" and starts doing something to save our planet." My question is related to the verb tense used. Can we use the present simple after "it �s about time" or should we always choose the past simple?
Thanks in advance!
Have a great evening!
Cristina |
4 Nov 2010
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Dyana13
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after it �s (high) time you always use Past tense forms. they are not actually past tense, they are subjunctive forms, but if the SS don �t know about it, just mention the Simple Past. the right way would be
"It �s about time everybody woke up from their "selfish little world" and started doing something to save our planet."
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4 Nov 2010
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Zsuzsapszi
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Hi!
I teach this way:
It �s time to get up. (I don �t mention for who)
It �s time for us to get up.
It �s time we went. (the time has arrived)
It �s time we were leaving. (it is a little bit late)
So that �s why I think we can �t use present simple after it �s time. |
4 Nov 2010
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lmzee3
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Here �s a lengthy answer from the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1535_questionanswer/page42.shtml
"This is a very interesting question, which is correct - "It �s high
time we went ", or "Let �s go"? The first thing to say is that they are
both grammatically correct; they are both examples of accurate English.
This is often true in English that there are different ways to say more
or less the same thing. Which one you use will depend on the situation,
who you are talking to and sometimes the way you like to sound, your own
style of speaking.
Let �s look at each of these in a little more detail and describe a situation when they could be used.
First, the structure "let �s" - which is the common short form for
"Let us". This is followed by the infinitive of a verb without "to" and
is usually an informal suggestion. When it �s a suggestion it is often
followed by the tag, "shall we?"
Imagine that you are at a party, it �s quite late at night, you are
tired and you have to go to work the next day. You are there together
with a friend and because it �s late you want to go home. You might say
to your friend something like, "Let �s go, shall we?" You want to leave
and you want your friend to come with you. "Let �s go, shall we?" It �s
not really an order to do something but a polite way of suggesting that
you want to leave.
If you just say, "Let �s go!" that is more of a polite instruction
and suggests that you have made the decision that it �s time to leave and
you expect the person you are talking to do what you say. It could be a
parent talking to his or her children - "Come on kids, let �s go."
However often there is no real difference between "let �s go" and "let �s
go, shall we?" It really does depend on your tone of voice and the
relationship you have with the person you �re speaking to.
Now, the other phrase from Abdallah �s question was, "It �s high time
we went". This is quite an unusual structure because it has what looks
like a simple past form - "went", the past of the verb "to go." - "It �s
high time we went." - What is unusual about this is that this sentence
is not talking about the past at all! There are a number of phrases, all
using the word "time" where this happens.
We have the example - "It �s high time we went", but you could also say:
- It �s time we went, or
- It �s about time we went
and you can use a continuous form as well:
- It �s time we were going
- It �s about time we were going, and
- It �s high time we were going
The past form in these examples is, I think, the subjunctive form of
the verb. The subjunctive is often used when we talk about unreal or
imagined situations. You can see it clearly in a conditional sentence
like this one:
"If I were you, I �d change my job"
Normally you wouldn �t expect to see the form "were" following the
pronoun "I". You expect "I" to be followed by "was". But that is only
true if the verb form is the past simple. However "I were" as in "If I
were you" is the correct form of the past subjunctive which is used here
because obviously I am not you and I can �t be you - so it �s an imagined
or unreal situation - "If I were you." And that �s the same form that �s
being used in the expressions after the word �time �
However, to be honest, I wouldn �t worry about trying to remember this or trying to work out if a sentence is subjunctive or not.
You can remember the time expressions I mentioned above as fixed
expressions and they all have more or less the same meaning. They are
quite formal in their use and are stating that it �s time that something
happened. A parent might say to a child, for example - "it �s time you
went to bed!" Which means "I want you to go to bed".
In the party situation you could say, as I mentioned above, "let �s
go!" - but you could also say - "It �s time we went." You can imagine the
person who said that might be looking at their watch and worrying
perhaps about catching a train.
And if the situation is a little more urgent, we use the expression
"It �s high time" which means it �s very important that this happens now -
"It �s high time we left - come on or we �ll miss the train." Or again a
parent might say to an older child - "It �s high time you found a job,
young man!"
So in summary -
"Let �s go" is an informal suggestion or a polite instruction -
"It �s high time" - is a formal statement that it is important that something happen soon or that something happen now.
And now - it �s about time I finished this answer.
"
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5 Nov 2010
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aliciapc
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It �s time TO go home or It �s time (he, she, we) went home . |
5 Nov 2010
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