looked or looks

[tufguy]

Hi guys,

Please check these sentences,

1 I didn't Sleep so that I would not miss My tv serial"

2 I painted my house so that it looked beautiful"

I am confused because I have been told that if we are writing or talking about past and in between if we want to depict a futute happening so we havr to use present. Please help.

 

[bhaisahab]

Both of your sentences are possible, but "sleep" and "my" should not be capitalised.

 

[Rover_KE]

...and 'TV' should.

 

[tufguy]

What about my 2 question?

 

[lotus888]

1. I didn't sleep so that I would not miss my TV serial.

2. I painted my house so that it would look beautiful.


--lotus

 

[tufguy]

But what about the usage of present tense while depicting future happening in past trnse. When we have to do this please explain. Read my post again the last portion. Can I also use "looks" in my 2 sentence?

 

[Raymott]

But what about the usage of present tense while depicting future happening in past trnse. When we have to do this please explain. Read my post again the last portion. Can I also use "looks" in my 2 sentence?

You've almost certainly misunderstood what you were told. Yes, you can use 'looks' in sentence 2. "Would look" is better.

 

[tufguy]

Can I use "I do not miss my tv serial" in my first sentence. Could you please ellaborate this. I mean I want to understand it so that I do not make any mistake in future. Please explain. Thanks in advance.

 

[Raymott]

Can I use "I do not miss my tv serial" in my first sentence. Could you please ellaborate this. I mean I want to understand it so that I do not make any mistake in future. Please explain. Thanks in advance.

There's no question about whether you will make mistakes in future. You will. For example, Rover has told you that TV is capitalised, and that has made no difference.
No you can't say, "1 I didn't Sleep so that I do not miss My tv serial". You can say what lotus said in #5.

 

[tufguy]

OK so is it safer to use "Would" structure, if I am confused. Because I can't understand that if I can use present in 1 sentence then why not in 2 because yhey have almost same situation.

 

[Raymott]

OK so is it safer to use "Would" structure, if I am confused. Because I can't understand that if I can use present in 1 sentence then why not in 2 because yhey have almost same situation.

Yes, use "would". It will save you some trouble.
1 and 2 are different. Missing a TV show is something that happens once, at one specific time. A house looking beautiful is something that happened in the past, as soon as you painted it, but continues into the present and the future. That's why you can say, "I painted it so that it looks beautiful." 'Looks' becomes almost a timeless statal verb, whereas "do not miss" doesn't.
Even then, some people might not like the sentence with 'looks'. "Would look" is better and, as you say, safer.

 

[tufguy]

OK now I got you.