The little boy like/would have liked some food...

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The little boy liked/would have liked some food but he did not dare to to tell his father that he was hungry, as he had already had his breakfast at home.

I guess 'liked' is the correct choice for sentence. Am I right?

Thanks.

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Type: Question • Score: 5 • Views: 661 • Replies: 8

[+3] - Setanta - 09/30/2011No, "liked" is not even close. At the end of the sentence you have: ". . . he did not dare to to tell his father that he was hungry, as he had already had his breakfast at...

No, "liked" is not even close. At the end of the sentence you have: ". . . he did not dare to to tell his father that he was hungry, as he had already had his breakfast at home." You have past tense and anterior past, so you need the verb tenses to agree--therefore, "The little boy would have liked some food . . .

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Tang - to understand these sentences , you must read the surrounding words to get a clue about the verb tense needed.

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@PUNKEY,

Thanks, Setanta and Punkey.

Would the verb used be different if I change it to:
The little boy liked/would have liked some food but he did not dare to to tell his father.

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@tanguatlay,

No. If you said "The little boy liked some food, but he did not dare to tell his father.", it would sound like you were saying he liked some food, but not all food.

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@tanguatlay,

That would work if you wanted to indicate that the little boy was afraid to tell his father about his food preferences.

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@tanguatlay,

Quote:

The little boy liked/would have liked some food but he did not dare to to tell his father that he was hungry, as he had already had his breakfast at home.

I guess 'liked' is the correct choice for sentence. Am I right?

Quote:

Setanta wrote: No, "liked" is not even close. At the end of the sentence you have: ". . . he did not dare to to tell his father that he was hungry, as he had already had his breakfast at home." You have past tense and anterior past, so you need the verb tenses to agree--therefore, "The little boy would have liked some food . . .

The tenses DO agree - 'like' is in the past tense, ie. "liked.

I think that this might be a translation problem, with 'like' being used in a manner/with a meaning that would work in another language but the meaning here for English is strange.

If you used 'wanted', it would be fine, Ms Tan.

The little boy wanted some food but he did not dare to to tell his father that he was hungry, as he had already had his breakfast at home.

It's even possible to use present tense 'wants' here.

The little boy [still] wants some food - his dad was just in here, he's gone out now - he did not dare to tell his father that he was hungry, as he had already had his breakfast at home.

So much for the silly old canard " so you need the verb tenses to agree".

The little boy like/would have liked some food...

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