Getting the Tenses Right

asking a question

In a chat, Lisa asks John if he's seen the new problem in their computer program.

John's response could mean five different things depending on what tense he puts on the verb fix:

lisa: Have you seen the new bug in our program?

- john: Fixing it (now)

- john: Have fixed it (some time ago)

- john: Fixed it (can even tell you when I did it).

- john: Will fix it (soon, later, sometime)

- john: Fix it (yourself)

guess

If the tenses are wrong, the one you talk or write to starts guessing what you really meant.

...and that's when the fun starts :-)

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