Stink Stank Stunk

9 posts / 0 new

Topic locked

Wed, 2007-02-21 01:56

Stink Stank Stunk

Okay, divvy alert.
Stink stank stunk. Sing sang sung. Spin span spun. I know the 'i' one is present tense, but what are the rules for the other two?
'He sang like a canary?' 'He sung like a canary?'
'She had span on her heel?' 'She had spun on her heel?'
Hnnnuhh? Any closet grammarians in the house?

Wed, 2007-02-21 08:04

jrc

'He sang like a canary: Present in the future 'He sung like a canary: Present in the Past.. Don't listen to me though. I'm crap at this kind of thing..

Wed, 2007-02-21 08:07

jrc

Correction. 'He sang like a canary: Should have been Present Perfect?

Wed, 2007-02-21 09:21

archergirl

He has sung like a canary. He had sung like a canary. I think one is present perfect and one is past perfect, although it's been a long time since I did my ESL grammar course! He sang like a canary is just plain old past tense, innit? You wouldn't say 'She spun on her heel'. It would be 'She span on her heel' and 'She had spun on her heel'. I think the theme is, with the 'u' tense you have to use a perfect phrase: has or had. Otherwise you use the simple past.

Wed, 2007-02-21 09:22

archergirl

Unless you're using 'dig', in which case it's 'dug' for both past and perfect tenses. Aaargh! *tears hair out*

Wed, 2007-02-21 13:39

rokkitnite

I'm actually more confused. Present in the future? Present in the past? What's a perfect phrase?

Wed, 2007-02-21 13:50

justyn_thyme

I don't think 'span' is a verb, but I could be wrong. "You don't need the light of the Lord to read the handwriting on the wall." Copies of Warsaw Tales available through www.new-ink.org

Wed, 2007-02-21 14:09

2Lou

You'd have to ask her. ~ www.fabulousmother.com

~
www.fabulousmother.co.uk

Wed, 2007-02-21 14:36

maddan

google says ... http://www.writingenglish.com/cverbs/sing.htm

Topic locked