Tuesday, May 16, 2023

 Here is a great explanation of a basic error in verb tense often made by Indian subcontinent language speakers.   Doesn't matter if you speak Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi--speakers of these languages often make this mistake with English verb tense.



Essentially Indian speakers will often say, "This escalatES into a bidding war" when what they mean is this HAS escalatED into a bidding war.    The difference is, the statement "This escalatES into a bidding war is a general statement--it happens now in general, or it might have happened in the past and continues into now.

Saying "This HAS escalatED into a bidding war" (HAS MODIFIER AND -D or -ED ending to verb as opposed to -S or -ES ending) means that it started in the past at a nonspecific time continues into the now.

(And if you use the -ING ending, this WAS escalatING into a bidding war--WAS MODIFIER AND -ING ENDING, it means it started in the past, continued and ended in the past, nonspecific time, but before right now.   So for instance you wouldn't say, "we drink orange juice for breakfast" unless you do it every morning.    You could say he WAS drinkING orange juice with breakfast--in the past, but now he drinks tea.)

(also remember subject verb agreement.   Singular subject gets singular verb HE *WAS*.   But plural subject gets plural verb--WE *WERE*.)

WHO EVER SAID ENGLISH WAS TOO SIMPLE A LANGUAGE TO EXPRESS COMPLEX THOUGHTS!

I look forward to hearing from you.  And remember to check out my David Berlin ESL YouTube channel.  For general info on me and my services and rates, check out my ESL and Accent Reduction Training Webpage.