wondered – English Grammar Profiler

Let’s look at how ‘hoped’ is used to make requests and orders less direct.  Even if we would usually say I hope + something happens, we can push the verb ‘hope’ into the past tense not to refer to time.  We often do tense shifts in English to express modality.  In this case, to express …

hoped + CLAUSE (polite) Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 25 in the category of PAST simple  is defined as: habitual states or actions. PELIC STUDENT EXAMPLE: They always went back late. Chinese male, level 3, writing class. EXPERT EXAMPLE: He would take me with him on his jobs and say, ” Come on Jo, let’s go do something to make this world a better place.”  His hands were wide and calloused, and they always reminded me of displaced tree roots. TED Both examples in the EGP follow the pattern ‘always + past simple verb’ An iWeb search …

ALWAYS + past simple Read More »

In the English Grammar Profile, B1 point 7 in REPORTED SPEECH is defined as: REPORTED THOUGHT using ‘wonder’ + ‘wh-‘word + clause, with a tense shift where relevant. A search in iWeb for: wondered _*Q _P _VV 1 WONDERED WHAT IT TAKES 172 2 WONDERED WHAT IT MEANT 95   Tillamook Headlight Herald Wellness: What is insulin …

wondered wh* + CLAUSE Read More »

The following two B1 points are only different in the order. Point 4 in REPORTED SPEECH is defined as: DIRECT SPEECH, REPORTING CLAUSE, INITIAL POSITION: report speech and thought directly, using the reporting verb before the reporting clause Point 9 is END POSITION: report speech and thought directly using the reporting verb after the reporting …

DIRECT SPEECH (initial or end position) Read More »

Point 73 in the category of PAST is defined as: Past simple: ‘I wondered’ and ‘I wanted’ as politeness structures, when making polite requests and thanking. I wondered if * could * 1 I WONDERED IF IT COULD BE 52 2 I WONDERED IF I COULD DO 46 3 I WONDERED IF I COULD MAKE …

past simple (politeness) Read More »