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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > Help with grammar
Help with grammar
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gordana44
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Help with grammar
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Can anybody help me please with these sentences and tenses? Put each verb in brackets into suitable tense and form: If you __________(not watch) the television, would you turn it off? I can �t believe you _________(be) so unreasonable! What �s wrong? By nine that evening, most of the guests ______________(already/leave) the party. When she ________(get) there, Paul ______________(already/wait) for her. Swedish police ____________(just announce) that five paintings by Picasso ______________(steal) from Stockholm �s modern Museum. The paintings ____________(value) by experts at about 30 milion dollars. Police believe that they _________(take) early on Saturday evening, but for some reason the museum �s burglar alarm _____________(not go off) and the theft ________________(not discover) unti Monday morning. No cules ____________(find) so far at the scene of the crime. Thank you for your help! |
17 Feb 2017
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yanogator
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If you aren �t watching the television, would you turn it off? I can ´t believe you are/are being/could be/would be so unreasonable! What ´s wrong? By nine that evening, most of the guests had already left the party. When she got there, Paul was already waiting for her. Swedish police just announced/have just announced that five paintings by Picasso were stolen/have been stolen from Stockholm ´s modern Museum. The paintings are valued/have been valued by experts at about 30 milion dollars. Police believe that they were taken early on Saturday evening, but for some reason the museum ´s burglar alarm didn �t go off and the theft was not discovered until Monday morning. No clues have been found so far at the scene of the crime. Bruce |
17 Feb 2017
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cunliffe
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Agree with Bruce, but that first one might be better: if you weren �t watching the television... � With the Swedish police one, I will mention that �just announced � is typically American English and �have just announced � followed by �have been stolen � is British English.
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17 Feb 2017
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yanogator
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Lynne, are you sure about that first one? It could be a BE/AE thing, but I see it as a basic present-tense request for you to turn it off if you aren �t (currently) watching it. Bruce |
17 Feb 2017
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Jayho
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Bruce, I agree with you, but maybe it is different in the motherland |
17 Feb 2017
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cunliffe
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Yes, Bruce is right - so no change there, then;-) Sorry.
I was taking it as a hypothetical question.... bearing in mind the situation in many households, including my own  where the telly is always on. |
18 Feb 2017
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gordana44
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Thank you all for your help. I really appreciate it. |
18 Feb 2017
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Gi2gi
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I have read your brilliant answers and it appears to me that:
1) If you aren�t watching the television, would you turn it off? 2)If you were not watching the television, would you turn it off?
are both Okay depending on the context. Let me elaborate.
"If you aren �t watching the television, would you turn it off?" This is a polite request to someone who is in fact watching the television and you ask him - would you please turn it off? "If you were not watching the television, would you turn it off?" Here you use the if clause to denote a hypothetical condition, i.e. "imagine/supposing you were doing this, would you do something else?"
As in the example below: "If you were running away from a ghost, would you yell and scream like crazy?" Giorgi
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18 Feb 2017
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yanogator
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Well, Giorgi, you seem to be just a little off in your thinking this time. In the first one, he television is on, but the person doesn �t seem to be watching it (is on the computer or reading or something) The hypothetical sentence (If you weren �t watching...) is grammatically possible, but this particular sentence doesn �t really present a realistic scenario. Something like "If you weren �t watching the television, would you be studying for your test?" works. I think Lynne �s suggestion was a simple past: If you weren �t watching the television while you were in there, would you go back in and turn it off? (Am I right, Lynne?) Bruce |
18 Feb 2017
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almaz
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Absolutely correct, Bruce. There�s no suggestion of counterfactuality. Incidentally, it doesn�t even need to be polite: "If you�re not watching the telly, turn the bloody thing off!"
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19 Feb 2017
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cunliffe
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Well, exactly! Quite honestly, on first reading, it didn �t occur to me that this was a simple request. It is one of those things which don�t�sound right �. It would indeed be, �If you �re not watching the telly, turn the bloody thing off! � Or words to that effect. Or in the case of the original, spoken with great disdain, sarcasm or letting that note of martyrdom creep into your voice.  . Bruce, I think it (If you were not watching the TV, would you turn it off?) is a perfectly good �thunk�. But I like your interpretation of it as a past tense. That works well. Have a great Sunday, all. Lynne
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19 Feb 2017
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