Comments on: Present tenses in English

By: Clare

Clare — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:59:17 +0000

Yes, correct.
I suppose there are situations when you'd ask someone if they could smell something – especially if the smell was unusually strong.

Luboš — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:58:40 +0000

Hmm… OK. I see… So, perhaps I should have written it like this:

"Can you smell the roses? – Yes. They smell wonderful."

Is this really English (and not Czenglish)? :-)

Clare — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:43:45 +0000

Yes, but the sentence itself seems strange. Why would you ask someone if they are smelling the roses if you can see them doing it?

Luboš — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:57:53 +0000

Are these tenses correct, please?

"Are you smelling the roses?"

- "Yes, they smell wonderful."

Clare — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:22:32 +0000

The first is more common. The second makes you sound surprised, as if the person has decided quicker than you thought.