I feel more comfortable with:
"I felt nervous in the exam" than "I feel nervous in exams".
Either way, though, I believe I would be much more likely to use 'during'. Maybe I should record myself some time.
Plural vs singular?
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fluffyhamster
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Are you asking if Simple Past denotes "singulars", and Simple Present "plurals"? If so, have you considered I felt nervous in (all my) exams (whilst at school)? (That is, the difference that a countable versus plural noun makes, regardless of the form of the verb).
Or perhaps you need nouns where a specific versus general contrast isn't marked (so the focus will then be sort of more on the form of the verb): I went to Gino's (yesterday, for the first time presumably - or perhaps 'again' at most) obviously doesn't mean the same thing frequency-wise as I go to Gino's (almost every Friday now), but note that one can, from say tasting a food just the once, extrapolate from that instance and generally declare e.g. I like nattou, and in the process perhaps bypass any reporting stage (I tried (some) nattou for the first time yesterday...and do you know what, I like(d) it!).
Or perhaps we could use examples like I feel/felt nervous in/wearing drag?
As for 'during' versus 'in', shouldn't that be in HIC's "exam regurgitation" thread?
Or perhaps you need nouns where a specific versus general contrast isn't marked (so the focus will then be sort of more on the form of the verb): I went to Gino's (yesterday, for the first time presumably - or perhaps 'again' at most) obviously doesn't mean the same thing frequency-wise as I go to Gino's (almost every Friday now), but note that one can, from say tasting a food just the once, extrapolate from that instance and generally declare e.g. I like nattou, and in the process perhaps bypass any reporting stage (I tried (some) nattou for the first time yesterday...and do you know what, I like(d) it!).
Or perhaps we could use examples like I feel/felt nervous in/wearing drag?
As for 'during' versus 'in', shouldn't that be in HIC's "exam regurgitation" thread?
Oddly enough...
Sorry, the past/present thing was just a coincidence. It's just that 'in' feels okay with the singular but doesn't feel okay with the plural.
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fluffyhamster
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Hmm, maybe your intuitions are just a bit off on this one, Heath. I mean, there's absolutely nothing wrong with either of your original sentences (and their differing meanings are perfectly distinct); then, remember that 'the' doesn't preclude a plural (I feel/felt nervous in the exams); and taken to an extreme, a "true" 'singular is better' way of thinking might even result in exemplars like ?I feel/felt better in an exam (than I do/did doing whatever else?) being favoured over all others!