Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[acid888]

I am having the following problems, please kindly assist if possible:-

1. "was" and "has been"

a) your name was referred to me by John.
b) your name has been referred to me by John.
c) your name had been referred to me by John.

which of the above is correct? and when do we use "was" and when we use "has been" in a sentence? It seem that both can fit into any sentence in any format. so i am confused.

2. "cost" and "costs"? and "profit" and "profits"?

When do we use need to add a "s" in the end of the word "cost" and "profit"? what is the meaning of adding "s" is it mean plural form?

3. "lists of fault"? or "lists of faults"or list of faults?

which of the above is correct? I am not sure when do we need to add "s" in the end of which word when using the format of "xx of xx".

Many thanks for your kindest assistant on the above.

acid888

[Mister Micawber]

.
Hello mate, and welcome to Dave's.

1--

a) your name was referred to me by John.
b) your name has been referred to me by John.
c) your name had been referred to me by John.

All three can be correct, but C needs further context-- a succeeding event in the past: When I met you, I didn't realize that your name had been referred to me.

The short answer: use simple past when the event is completed and done with; use present perfect when the event has the potential for continuing up to the present or relates strongly to present result.


2. "cost" and "costs"? and "profit" and "profits"?

Again you present words out of context. These words can be either verbs or nouns. The -s for verbs signals third person singular present; the -s for nouns signals the plural.

3. "lists of fault"? or "lists of faults"or "list of faults"?

You can make one list of faults or several lists of faults. In any case, faults must be plural or there would be no point in starting a list.

This does not account, however for all phrase of the format "xx of xx". You will have to bring forward further specific examples.
.
_________________
"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
...............
Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's

[acid888]

Many thanks.....i understand now but I still have the following questions:-

1. Could you please kindly give me an example under what situation i should be using "your name has been referred to me by John" in which give a meaning that the event has the potential for continuing up to the present or relates strongly to present result?

2. a) The company's profits are huged this year. (here we add "s" to profit because profit is a noun and it's plural)

b) Asian profits soaring this year (here we add "s" to profit becuase profit is a verb with a 3rd person singular)

Is my above explanations to a) and b) are correct?

3. a) There are different kind of waves of lights
b) There are different kinds of waves of light
c) There are different kinds of waves of lights

which one is correct?

Please kindly advice. Many thanks again.

Regards,
acid888

[Mister Micawber]

.
1. Your name has been referred to me by John. Are you interested in working for our company?

2. a) The company's profits are huge this year. (here we add "s" to profit because profit is a noun and it's plural) --YES

b) Asian profits soaring this year (here we add "s" to profit becuase profit is a verb with a 3rd person singular) -- NO; the verb is soar. The -s is plural.


3. a) There are different kind of waves of lights -- NO; different = more than one, so kinds
b) There are different kinds of waves of light -- YES
c) There are different kinds of waves of lights -- NO; light is uncountable here, so no -s
.
_________________
"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
...............
Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's

[LucentShade]

"Asian profits soaring this year" sounds like a news headline -- news headlines often use verbs in preent participles without the auxilliary verb "to be" in order to save space. (sometimes, articles a/an/the are also omitted to save space)

"Airlines [are] Reducing Number of Flights"

"Congress [is] Debating [a] New Measure"

"[The] Population [is] Increasing at Alarming Rates"

3 a) and c) are correct, as Mister Micawber says, although I'd add one thing...I believe that in the sciences, they refer to "waves of light" as "light waves" (in this case, "light" means the opposite of "dark," not the opposite of "heavy.") So, you might see, "There are different kinds of light waves."