By far the most serious difficulty for almost everyone is the verb. Many students are beginning with the French *form* to try to decide what form to use in English. This is completely wrong and impossible. You are obliged to begin with the *action or state referred to* and ask yourself questions like
- does it happen in a finished period?
- does it matter to the speaker when it happened,
- are we interested in the proceeding of the action?
- are we talking about a habit ?
etc.
These are difficult points. If you want a two-minute explanation, stop studying English and study something else instead :=)
All students should read at least two more time chapters 5 and 6 of "Grammaire explicative de l'anglais" before the first class of the second semester.
These questions need to be taken very seriously. If you wait for these grammar points to become clear by themselves, you will be long dead and buried first.
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