<p>Can anyone help by explaining when and how to use the following correctly:</p>
<p>1) What's the difference between, 'I did' and 'I have done'. Also since I is a singular pronoun, why isn't 'I has done' correct? I know it's wrong. Is 'I' a special pronoun?</p>
<p>2) Bacon and Eggs <<< why is this singular? -- Bacon and Eggs is a splendid breakfast.</p>
<p>3) When is it ok to use passive voice?</p>
<p>4) Difference between: I have called and I called?</p>
<p>5) Difference between: dreamed and dreamt?</p>
<p>6) When is it ok to use apostrophe for possessives for pronouns? It was (her's or hers).</p>
<p>a) 'Did' and 'have done' are both tenses of the verb 'to do.' 'Did' is known as the preterite (or simple past) and 'have done' is known as the present perfect. In English, the preterite is used to express actions that occur within a timeframe that is defined either by another piece of information in the context or by assumed knowledge. The present perfect is used to express actions that HAVE occurred sometime in the past.</p>
<p>b) It just so happens that conjugation in English is quite easy. Conjugation is by person AND number. It just so happens in English that you only change the conjugation in the third person singular. If you understand Old English (or even Middle English to an extent) or another language, particularly one like German, you will understand this better. I have, you have, he/she/it has, we have, you (plural) have, they have. As you can see the order that I have shown here is: first person singular, second person singular, third person singular, first person plural, second person plural, third person plural. It is just the third person singular that changes in English. This, however, changes much more in other languages, such as German. (In German, it's: ich habe, du hast, er/sie/es hat, wir haben, ihr habt, sie/Sie haben.)</p>
<p>2) Because "Bacon and eggs" is a noun phrase. You are eating both of them for breakfast. Unless you mean two meals, one of which is just bacon, and one of which is just eggs.</p>
<p>3) Passive is fine by me as long as the changed emphasis of the sentence makes sense and is justifiable. But as to SAT grammar, they want you to just eliminate it altogether. Get rid of it unless you see a more pressing grammar problem.</p>
<p>4) See 1a.</p>
<p>5) Dreamed = correct. Dreamt is ugly and British.</p>
<p>1) "I did want to flay the lousy sot," suggests that something has changed. The tense is the anterior past. Whereas, "I have beaten many wives in my time," is an example of an activity that encompassed an extended period of time; this is an example of the pluperfect tense. You should also be familiar with the perfect or simple past, "I did it!"
2) Bacon and eggs assumes the role of a collective noun. In American English, the verdict is still out as to whether or not one should use the plural or singular conjugation with a collective noun in the nominative. You can say either "Fish are good to eat" or "Fish is good to eat." If we were to change the number of the noun breakfast and omit the article, we would have a grammatically correct sentence (i.e. "Bacon and eggs are splendid breakfasts." This implies that bacon is a breakfast by itself, though.)
3. Passive is almost always grammatically sound, but, more often that not, it can be a bit stylistically stilted. If it can be said in the indicative, why not say it in the indicative? "I was bitten by the acid-lipped harpie," can't compare with "The acid-lipped harpie bit me." However, the passive can often be used (here, I use the passive to emphasize the noun "passive.") for a dramatic effect (e.g. "I am killed" rather than "I died."
4. Discussed this in the 1st question
5. To dream has two past participles. Either one will fly.
6. Never</p>
<p>Pretty good... ReJoyce, except for two things:</p>
<p>a) Pluperfect is the past perfect. E.g., "I had done it." "I have done it," the example Lasko is inquiring about, is the present perfect.
b) By indicative, you mean active. Indicative is a straightforward statement, as opposed to interrogative, imperative, or subjunctive.</p>
<p><em>ahem</em>
You're quite right on all acounts. I really ought to change my nick to Mr. Malaprop! That really disgruntles me...I was thinking active and wrote indicative and for the perfect tenses I meant to write "had" rather than "have." Anyway, one really doesn't need to know the nomenclature in order to know what is right. Still, this is a bit embarrassing; I haven't worked on my latin in a few weeks (perhaps that's the problem). I wanted to write present perfect but second guessed myself because I had already written the anterior past (which is the same as the pluperfect). Typically, I remember the tenses in the latin (read: easy) way: pluperfect, perfect, future perfect and the english (not to mention the French) equivalents tend to mess me up.</p>
<p>It's funny...I thought about this right after I posted, too.</p>
<p>EDIT: Interrogative isn't a mood btw. That bit of revenge doesn't really make-up for the grossness of my oversight.</p>
<p>I haven't really thought about this kind of grammar in half a year really, I learned it as I learned German, and now I just speak it fine without thinking about the grammar.</p>