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ESL forum > Grammar and Linguistics > Grammar Question    

Grammar Question



leaponover
United States

Grammar Question
 
I �m not 100% up on all the grammar rules, so I get frustrated sometimes on why a sentence can be correct.
 
My sentence is:
 
"The Carter family chose Africa because they love wild animals."
 
 Koreans always push this idea that the verbs have to match in a sentence.  Obviously that is not the case.  You can have two clauses that represent different tenses.  In the above case, a decision was made in the past in the first clause and in the second clause a fact is being represented.
 
So how can I express the grammar rule to someone so they can understand it?  What is the particular rule involved?  Any help would be appreciated. 

I even broke it down simply in Q&A format:

Q:  Where did the Carter family choose to go?
A:  They chose to go to Africa.
Q:  Why did they choose Africa?
A:  Because they love wild animals.

Without the official grammar rule I cannot put this to rest unfortunately, lol.
 

23 May 2017      





yanogator
United States

I think you stated the rules very well yourself. We use simple past for single events in the past, and simple present for general "truths". We wouldn �t say "because they loved animals", because that is ongoing, unlike the trip to Africa.
 
Bruce 

23 May 2017     



redcamarocruiser
United States

Maybe it would help your students if they thought of the clauses as 2 separate sentences. �Because � can join 2 sentences, which do not need the verbs to agree in tense for the reasons that you and Bruce stated.

23 May 2017     



kwsp
United States

I believe this may be your rule:
 
The Carter family chose (past tense) Africa because they love (continuous tense but stative, non-continuous, non-action verb) wild animals.

23 May 2017     



leaponover
United States

Thanks, I �ll try to use those.
 
Redcamaro, this isn �t for students, this is actually for Korean teachers who think that my sentence is not right, lol.  They won �t accept that it just is, and they aren �t buying my explanation because i �m not using any grammar rule to prove it. 

23 May 2017     



yanogator
United States

I �d say you should explain to them that the meaning of each tense is a grammar rule.
 
Bruce 

23 May 2017     



leaponover
United States

Yup, guess i �m just going to have to pad the walls on this one so it doesn �t hurt as much when I bang my head against them, lol.  

24 May 2017     



leaponover
United States

Yup, guess i �m just going to have to pad the walls on this one so it doesn �t hurt as much when I bang my head against them, lol.  

24 May 2017