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Ask for help > what īs the difference?
what īs the difference?
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chenchen_castrourdiales
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what īs the difference?
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Hi everybody,
I have always taught my students that when talking about the future and using adverbial clauses ("when"; "before"; "after"; "as soon as"; ...) we must use a present tense, either present simple or present perfect. However, it rings me a bell that there is a difference in meaning. Some books only provide one tense as the right one in some sentences and both of them in others. For example:
Let īs go to the cinema when you finish / have finished your homework.
Could you please help me with the difference in meaning and provide me with exampes to give my students when explaining it?
Thanks in advance. |
9 Jan 2011
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coyote.chus
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When it refers to the future, you have to use the present tense.
When he arrives, I will tell him everything.
But if you are referring to a sequence or past events, it can be followed either by a past perfect or by a simple past.
When he returend / had returned from work, his wife served dinner.
If you use the past simple in the example above, it means one event took place immediately after the other.
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9 Jan 2011
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