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Utente eliminato
19 mag 2016

Domande Inglese (Regno Unito)

Qual è la differenza tra 1. After reading lots of books I have decided to become a writer. e 2. After I read lots of books I have decided to become a writer. ?Sentiti libero di rispondere con un esempio.

Hey folks,

I know that we have to use the gerund form of a verb after prepositions.

I'm wondering whether there are some cases in which we can use the second sentence i.e. without gerund.

Feel free to provide your sentences.

PS: The 2nd sentence sounds really weird to my ears.

Thanks in advance.!
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knmstrs
19 mag 2016

  • Inglese (Regno Unito)

Your first sentence is OK, but for your second sentence I would probably change it to:
"After I read lots of books I decided to become a writer"

knmstrs
19 mag 2016

  • Inglese (Regno Unito)

or maybe:
"After reading lots of books I have decided to become a writer"

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Utente eliminato
19 mag 2016

@knmstrs Thanks.
I didn't think of using the past simple this way.

But for the future/present it is not possible to use the standard way, right?

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knmstrs
19 mag 2016

  • Inglese (Regno Unito)

I'm not sure I quite understand what you mean, sorry.

The decision was in the past, so you wouldn't use present or future tense. Perhaps:

"After I read lots of books I will have decided if I want to become a writer."

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ErialC
20 mag 2016

  • Inglese (Regno Unito)
  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)

You can phrase it without the use of gerunds, but the tense has to be consistent throughout the sentence.

So, #2 should either be:
• [Present/Future tense]
After I read lots of books, I will decide whether to become a writer.

• [Past tense]
After I read lots of books, I decided to become a writer.

Your sentence #2 sounds weird because of the change in tenses, from past tense to present perfect tense. As the present perfect tense is used when tying a past event to the present, there's a chunk of time missing in the link between the first half of the statement and the second. Let me rephrase it in an exaggerated way to make it easier to see.

"After I read lots of books [past], I have decided to become a writer [present perfect]."

→ It's as though you're saying:
"After I read lots of books 10 years ago, I have just decided to become a writer right now."

(So what happened in the 10 years that made you decide to do so? There's a chunk of time and information missing between the leap.)

ErialC
20 mag 2016

  • Inglese (Regno Unito)
  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)

I came across this site that elaborates in depth on the use of the present perfect tense: http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperf...

The following is a quote from the "Topic 5: Multiple Actions at Different Times" section:

"We also use the Present Perfect to talk about several different actions which have occurred in the past at different times. Present Perfect suggests the process is not complete and more actions are possible. Example: • She has talked to several specialists about her problem, but nobody knows why she is sick."

As the process of reading has been completed (i.e. the use of "after"), it is contradictory to use the present perfect tense in sentence #2.

Utente eliminato
21 mag 2016

Thank you @ErialC !

Your explanations are always great. You should become an English teacher, you would definitely be excellent at it.

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ErialC
22 mag 2016

  • Inglese (Regno Unito)
  • Inglese (Stati Uniti)

@LoooooN: I am. 😉 Thank you, but I still have a ways to go seeing how I've made mistakes and wasn't sure about some of your questions.

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