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hela
Joined: 02 May 2004
Posts: 420
Location: Tunisia
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 Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 8:45 pm Post subject: use of auxiliaries |
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Dear teachers,
Which auxiliary should I use in these instances:
1) If only I had had more time to tell my children more stories when they were growing up. Unfortunately, I had / did not (?).
2) If only I had more time to write my essay but unfortunately I have / do not (?).
Many thanks,
Hela |
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Kristea
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
Posts: 167
Location: Minneapolis, MN USA
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| Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 3:58 am Post subject: |
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I would say this...
#1 = did
#2 = do - this one sould strange to me, however.
- Kristi
_________________
"That man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much." R.L. Stevenson |
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hela
Joined: 02 May 2004
Posts: 420
Location: Tunisia
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| Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 7:21 am Post subject: |
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But if we say "did not" or "do not" that refers back to the action of telling stories not to the fact of not having time to tell stories, doesn't it?
Or maybe it has something to do with the tense of the verb in the first sentence. e.g.
If the verb of the sentence is in the perfect tense, I should use the auxiliary "HAVE" but if it is in the simple tense, I should use the auxiliary "DO". Correct? I can't remember the rule!
1) If only I had had more time to tell my children more stories when they were growing up. Unfortunately, I had not (?).
2) If only I had more time to write my essay but unfortunately I do not (?).
Please help! |
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LucentShade
Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Posts: 542
Location: Nebraska, USA
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| Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 1:06 am Post subject: Re: use of auxiliaries |
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| hela wrote: |
Dear teachers,
Which auxiliary should I use in these instances:
1) If only I had had more time to tell my children more stories when they were growing up. Unfortunately, I did not have more time.
2) If only I had more time to write my essay but unfortunately I do not have more time.
Many thanks,
Hela |
The best way to handle sentence like this is to think about what the sentence implies; the words I put in italics are what the speaker means to say. There are many possible sentences like this, so there's no one good rule, but try thinking about "the rest of the sentence" that would follow after "not." |
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hela
Joined: 02 May 2004
Posts: 420
Location: Tunisia
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| Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 8:15 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Lucent, so today we don't use the verb "have" in the negative form without the auxiliary "do" like it used to be in the past.
e.g. "I have not any money to buy a new computer" would be incorrect and should be replaced by "I do not have any money...", right?
All the best |
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