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juliete
Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 79
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Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 2:27 am Post subject: Meaning of in |
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I don’t understand the meaning of in.
Are the following sentences grammatically correct?
#1 Tom will be sick in two weeks.
#2 Tom will have been sick in two weeks.
#3 Tom is sick in two weeks.
#4 Tom has been sick in two weeks.
#5 Tom was sick in two weeks.
#6 Tom had been sick in two weeks. |
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Lorikeet
Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Posts: 1877 Location: San Francisco
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Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 8:42 pm Post subject: Re: Meaning of in |
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juliete wrote: |
I don’t understand the meaning of in.
Are the following sentences grammatically correct?
#1 Tom will be sick in two weeks.
#2 Tom will have been sick in two weeks.
#3 Tom is sick in two weeks.
#4 Tom has been sick in two weeks.
#5 Tom was sick in two weeks.
#6 Tom had been sick in two weeks. |
#1, Tom will be sick in two weeks, is correct English, although it might be difficult to forecast in advance that Tom will be sick. That is what "in two weeks" means. Two weeks in the future, starting with today.
#2, #4, #5, and #6 would be correct if you used "for" instead of "in", "for" meaning for that duration.
#3 doesn't work with either "in" or "for" because Tom is sick doesn't have a duration. It means he's sick now. |
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juliete
Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 79
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Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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Lorikeet,
Thank you very much for your detailed and clear help. I think I now understand well.
I’m also thinking of a little bit different situations, #7 to #12, where the meaning of in could be different from that in #1 to #6 because the verb is different.
Are the following sentences grammatically correct?
#7 Tom will see Mary in two weeks.
#8 Tom will have seen Mary in two weeks.
#9 Tom sees Mary in two weeks.
#10 Tom has seen Mary in two weeks.
#11 Tom saw Mary in two weeks.
#12 Tom had seen Mary in two weeks.
I suppose #7, 8, 9, 11, 12 are correct and #10 is incorrect.
But I'm not sure and can’t tell why. |
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Lorikeet
Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Posts: 1877 Location: San Francisco
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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juliete wrote: |
Lorikeet,
Thank you very much for your detailed and clear help. I think I now understand well.
I’m also thinking of a little bit different situations, #7 to #12, where the meaning of in could be different from that in #1 to #6 because the verb is different.
Are the following sentences grammatically correct?
#7 Tom will see Mary in two weeks.
#8 Tom will have seen Mary in two weeks.
#9 Tom sees Mary in two weeks.
#10 Tom has seen Mary in two weeks.
#11 Tom saw Mary in two weeks.
#12 Tom had seen Mary in two weeks.
I suppose #7, 8, 9, 11, 12 are correct and #10 is incorrect.
But I'm not sure and can’t tell why. |
"in two weeks" means "two weeks from now". It does not mean "for two weeks" which is a duration of two weeks. Therefore...
#7 makes sense. It is the future, and will be two weeks from now.
#8 makes sense, because it means in the future two weeks from now, Tom will have already seen Mary during that time.
#9 is possible, because it means Tom has a date or appointment to see Mary two weeks from now.
#10 and #11 don't work because they are not looking to the future. #12 most likely doesn't work either (you might be able to make a particular story to match it, but it's not usual) |
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juliete
Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 79
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Lorikeet
Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Posts: 1877 Location: San Francisco
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 9:37 pm Post subject: |
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They are all correct, but used a bit differently than your previous examples. These seem to be more like "in a three day period." |
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juliete
Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 79
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Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 12:29 am Post subject: |
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Lorikeet,
Thank you very much for your detailed, clear, and warm help.
I think I well understand the meaning of in now.
I’ve been wondering for a long time in the maze in the terribly dense fog of the meaning of in. I would never have been able to get out of it myself.
You saved me. You gave me a new world of English. You are my god.
I don’t know how to tell my thanks to you.
Thank you very much. |
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