FORGET and FORGOT
Hello,
I came across these sentence below when I was studying some grammar.
1) I FORGET exactly when I arrived but I am staying here for six months altogether.
But shouldn't it be :
I FORGOT exactly when I arrived but I am staying here for six months altogether ???
2) I was forgetting that YOU'VE BEEN here before
But shouldn't it be :
I was forgetting that YOU HAD HAD been here before ???
3) (a) I forget if I have told you.
(b) I've forgotten if I have told you.
(c) I forgot if I had told you.
Which one is correct?
Is there any difference?
Would you please help me with this?
Thank you in advance. =)
I've actually heard #1 informally.
it's like saying I WIN instead of I'VE (just) WON :)
For #1: I'd actually prefer "forget" in the present tense. In practice, the word "forget" is usually used like the phrase "can't remember": "I can't remember exactly when I arrived..." But "forgot" is possible too.
Of course, I would still use "forgot" if I were talking about having forgotten something in the past. "I forgot who I was at the time..."
If you forgot something, and then you remembered it or somebody reminded you, then you say "forgot" in the past tense because now you do remember. "Say, do you remember when we went to Louisville?" "I forgot all about that!"
> I was forgetting that YOU'VE BEEN here before
The use of the imperfect ("was forgetting") seems odd to me. The phrase "you've been" seems fine.
> I was forgetting that YOU HAD HAD been here before
I assume that duplicating the word "had" was a mistake, because that's certainly incorrect. Anyway, with no context, I would choose "have", because the person's having been there isn't directly connected with your forgetting. For "had" to be correct, there would have to be something that happened at the time or afterward: "...that you had been here that time when the Cookie Monster appeared and..."
For #3: I'd choose either A or B, and there's no significant difference between them. C doesn't sound right to me unless we're talking about forgetting in the past.
- Kef
I came across these sentence below when I was studying some grammar.
1) I FORGET exactly when I arrived but I am staying here for six months altogether.
But shouldn't it be :
I FORGOT exactly when I arrived but I am staying here for six months altogether ???
No. Forget is correct. Forgot sounds weird, because your forgetfullness is not something that happened in the past, it's something that's happening right now.
2) I was forgetting that YOU'VE BEEN here before
But shouldn't it be :
I was forgetting that YOU HAD HAD been here before ???
No again. You have been is just as much past tense as you had been.
Trust your grammar books; they know what they are talking about. Both of those sentences are perfectly normal, grammatical English.
<< I was forgetting that YOU'VE BEEN here before
The use of the imperfect ("was forgetting") seems odd to me. The phrase "you've been" seems fine. >>
The phrase "I was forgetting that YOU'VE BEEN here before" was actually taken from The Oxford Advanced Genie Dictionary. The dictionary says that the phrase has the same meaning as "I had forgotten that you've been here before"
<< 2) I was forgetting that YOU'VE BEEN here before
But shouldn't it be :
I was forgetting that YOU HAD HAD been here before ???
No again. You have been is just as much past tense as you had been. >>
Uriel,
So could I rewrite the sentence "I was forgetting that YOU'VE BEEN here before" to "I was forgetting that YOU HAD BEEN here before"? and both have the same meaning?
> You have been is just as much past tense as you had been.
I wouldn't say that. The idea of the pluperfect ("had been") is that it places an action further back in the past than the present perfect ("have been"). So, in that sense, it isn't as much past tense.
I still stand by what I said in my post above: "...that you had been here before" doesn't make much sense unless there's something else that happened at the same time or afterward being discussed.
- Kef
<< The idea of the pluperfect ("had been") is that it places an action further back in the past than the present perfect ("have been") >>
No, wait. The idea of the pluperfect ("past perfect") is that it places an action further back in the past than the normal past tense. OK, never mind about that.
The difference between "I have been here before" and "I had been here before" is the point of reference. When you say "I have been here before", you really mean "I have been here before now". The reference point is "now", so the present perfect is used. "I had been there before I went to Milwaukee" -- now the reference point, going to Milkwaukee, is in the past, so the pluperfect is used. Does this make sense?
- Kef
<but I am staying here for six months altogether>
Isn't it wrong? I'd say "I've been staying here...".
Marni's use of the PrProgressive could possibly indicate his native tongue is slavonic.
It depends. "I've been staying here for six months altogether" means that you've already been there for six months. "I'm staying here for six months altogether" means that it will have been six months by the time you leave, but it hasn't been that long yet. Both seem valid to me.
- Kef
<<Uriel,
So could I rewrite the sentence "I was forgetting that YOU'VE BEEN here before" to "I was forgetting that YOU HAD BEEN here before"? and both have the same meaning? >>
I suppose you can, but most people won't say it that way, and it sounds a little awkward. They really are going to say it in the original form you posted.
Marni says:
<<The phrase "I was forgetting that YOU'VE BEEN here before" has the same meaning as "I had forgotten that you've been here before" >>
But do the 2 phrases below make any sense at all?
"I was forgetting that YOU'VE BEEN here before"
"I had forgotten that you've been here before"
Can somebody explain what they really mean???
Thanks.