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Tenses : satisfying the request... (2)

1) The tense of a narration is always the simple past and an action which happened before this past will always be expressed in the past perfect :

past perfect simple = Have + past participle   and  past perfect in -ing = have been + Verb + ing  (insisting on the action in progress and its duration.)

 ex : The client entered the old pharmacy. He had heard of a strange rumor concerning an undetectable poison you could get freely there. 

2 ) If you want to use a future, remember that it doesn't get on well with the past  ! Yet, if you really need it, (or the conditional...) : BEWARE!

 after a subordinate conjunction expressing 'time': (after, before, when, while, once, as long as, as soon as, etc. the future is impossible: it is replaced by the present, and the conditional by the preterite.)

 ex : The pharmacist will listen carefully as soon as the client asks his unexpected question...

Yet, 'when'  can be the interrogative pronoun (whether direct or indirect) ; then, it must be followed by the tense imposed by the context (future or conditional).

      ex : When will he answer my question? I really wonder when he will answer my question frankly...

      In order to make a difference between a subordinate conjunction expressing 'time' and an interrogative pronoun, it may be an idea to try to substitute 'when' for 'as soon as'.  If the sentence has a meaning, 'when' is a 'subordinate conjunction' and the sentence will not be in the future. 

    3) NUMERALS: A score ( = 20 in Old English), a dozen ( = 12), a hundred ( = 100), a thousand ( = 1000), a million ( = 1 000 000)  cannot be put in the plural when they are multiplied by a precise number ou are preceded by several,

    a few, many. 

    Actually, they are numerals (numeral adjectives), and like all adjectives, they are never in the plural. They are often followed by a noun.

    ex : Many hundred bottles were neatly lining on shelves from floor to ceiling.

    On the contrary, ten, score, dozen, hundred, thousand, million, billion can be put in the plural, when they are followed by 'of' and a noun. 

    These words are no longer adjectives and become nouns  connected to other nouns by the preposition 'of'! )

    ex : Dozens of paper bags and sachets were ready for delivery. 

  4) AS / LIKE / AS IF : 

     a) LIKE + NOM  expresses a simple comparison. It's often used with the verb 'to look': to look like + noun = to be similar.

     ex : This shop looked like the cave of Arabian Nights! 

     b)  AS + PROPOSITION (Subject + verb) and  AS IF + PROPOSITION (as if + modal past  expressing an unreal.)

     ex : Do as I tell you!  He spoke as if he didn't understand what the man was saying ... 

There we are! The lesson is finished... I hope you've understood and hope that you'll like the test! Go for it! 

The story was freely inspired by The Hobbyist, by Fredric Brown. 1961 

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(... continued...) You were given the poison in your coffee... If you don't have the antidote within 3 hours, you'll be dead...

The client wouldn't have turnedwouldn't turnwon't turncould have turnedI don't know paler if he had been struck by lightning. He took out a pistol from his pocket and aimed at the pharmacist. 'If you kill me now, you'd find nevernever you'd findyou'd never findyou'll never findI don't know the right antidote among those five hundred of bottleshundreds of bottlesfive hundreds bottlesI don't know... The pharmacist explained: the antidote was thousands dollarstwo thousand dollarstwo thousands dollarstwo thousand dollarI don't know, not too expensive for a life... he said: 'there's no reason why I don't makeI'm not makingI willn't makeI shouldn't makeI don't know money preventing murders...' But to make sure you won't feel like killingwon't like to killwon't feel as killingI don't know me afterwards, you will now write your confession of your former intention and I'll go and post it to one best friendsone of my best friendone of my best friendsI don't know working in the police... I'll take your pistol with me, too...
As soon as I'm being backI won't be backI'll be backI'm backI don't know, I'll give you the antidote. And of course, you'll have forgottenyou'd forgetyou've forgottenyou'll've forgottenI don't know the stupid idea of killing your wife... and myself! With the $ 2,000 displayed in front of him, the client has wrote{has writingis writingwas writinghas writtenI don't know his confession... He had no choice! Don't forget to spread the news that I give an undetectable poison... It has savedIt has savingIt was savingit had savingI don't know your wife's life, it might savewould have savedwill have savedhas to saveI don't know your own life too, you never know!
This was how 'the biter was bitten!' ;0))