Nabeel Alwaseem
which sentence is grammatically true? 1- Has Robin Hood come back? or 2- Does Robin Hood ever come back? or 3- Does Robin Hood come back?
Sep 16, 2019 8:56 PM
Answers · 6
1
Both are grammatically correct (your question should say 'correct' not 'true'). Imagine you are watching a film on YouTube and a character in a Robin Hood film says "Has Robin Hood come back?" to check if at the point in time of the story Robin Hood has returned... but then your internet stops working and you never see the end of the film, and instead you ask a friend who has seen the whole film "Does Robin Hood ever come back?"to check the facts (in the film)... Can you see how both questions are possible but have different meaning?
September 16, 2019
I would dare make this clarification on the matter of correct. Your question was very specific, and you want to know if "grammatically" is correct. In that sense, grammar is correct in the three cases. None of the sentences contain a grammar error. What might be right or wrong here is the meaning. Sometimes, grammar and meaning don't go hand in hand. And this is the case. In the first case, you use the present perfect correctly, spelling is correct, everything is correct. The choice of present perfect here means that for whatever reason, you are connecting the past to the present. In that sense Chris' example is a good example. In sentence 3: you want to know how the story develops. One of the most common uses of simple present is to tell stories. And the only difference between 2 and 3 is the use of the word "ever" an emphasizer to express a more absolute period of time: "ever in life, from now until the end of times?" while without the word you only want to know if he comes back or not without referring to any point in time. I hope explanation is clear. Keep the work going!!
September 16, 2019
2
September 16, 2019
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