seen or watched

seen or watched


Which is correct?


13. For the past three years, I have driven this car      OR

      I have driven this car for the past three years.

14. Since this summer began, we have already had two storms    OR

      Since this summer begun, we have already had two storms.

15. I have watched Titanic three times     OR

      I have seen Titanic three times.

16. I had become a Christian already when I was a child.

17. I have been a Christian all my life.

18. Since 1961, I have been a teacher.

Before that, I was a student.

19. There were complaints that our exhibitors ran out of leaflets.

We should ask them to print more next year.

In this sentence,

is There singular or plural because the answer complaints has an “s”.

20. I went to see Titanic yesterday   OR

       I went to watch Titanic yesterday.

 

21.  Draw up the curtain   or

        Draw close the curtains?

 

Answer

 

13. It sounds better to write: “I have driven this car for the past three years.” although the first sentence is not incorrect.

14. The correct sentence is: “Since this summer began, we have already had two storms.” “Began” is the simple past tense of “begin”. “Begun” is the past participle, and it is usually used with an auxiliary verb to form, for example, the present perfect tense, as in “has begun”, or the passive verb “was begun”, etc.

15. Both sentences are correct, but “have watched” is more formal than “have seen”.

16. It is better to use the simple past tense for this sentence and also to cut out “already”, i.e. “I became a Christian when I was a child.” If you want to use the past perfect tense, “had become”, you can say, for example, “I had already become a Christian by the time I was 13. “You need to specify the time in the past before which you became a Christian, in order to use the past perfect tense.

17. This sentence is correct.

18. It’s better to write the first sentence this way: “I have been a teacher since 1961.” The second sentence is all right. Although you use the simple past tense and not the past perfect, you have made the distinction clear between the time before 1961 and the time after 1961.

19. “There” in this structure takes a plural verb because the noun “complaints” after the verb is plural. If “a complaint” were to be used in the sentence, “there” would take a singular verb, i.e. “There was a complaint …”

20. A very similar question in 15, The answer is applicable to this also.

21. We can say “draw the curtains” . But there are other expressions that distinguish between the two actions and can therefore make our meaning clearer. These are “draw back the curtains” or “pull back the curtains” We don’t say “open the curtains”.

tengkp

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