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did luck
where students who are seniors
Oct 2, 2007 12:57
16 yrs ago
English term

bought

Non-PRO English Bus/Financial Business/Commerce (general)
Greetings,

The sentence below is an extract from a contract.
Does it make any sense to you? ( from a tense standpoint) Many Thanks

** A has sold and B has bought upholstery fabrics in quantity of 200,000 linear meters in a period of 22,09,07 till 22,09,08. ***
Responses
4 +4 the tense is actually incorrect
3 +3 has agreed to buy
4 +1 past participle of
3 +1 another possiblity
Change log

Oct 2, 2007 13:03: Marie-Hélène Hayles changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"

Discussion

Mehmet Hascan (asker) Oct 2, 2007:
To me, the meaning of the sentence is vague.
ahmedelizmiri Oct 2, 2007:
Is there a possibility of the tense to give the meaning that buyer will buy(its a must for Buyer) mentioned meters of good?
I know that the sentence doesn't seem sensible grammatically but the meaning is what I focus on.
Marie-Hélène Hayles Oct 2, 2007:
Exactly Craig, it's a contract, and contracts usually refer to future transactions not past ones. The tense is wrong, as I state in my answer below.
Craig Meulen Oct 2, 2007:
The bit that doesn't make sense to me is the date: it would usually read "in the period from X to Y", and with past or present perfect, it shouldn't be a _future date_ (here, year 08) ???

Responses

+4
9 mins
Selected

the tense is actually incorrect

In the period from 22/09/07 to 22/09/08, A WILL SELL and B WILL BUY. The FUTURE tense must be used as the period being talked about is in the future, not in the past or present. Unless we've suddenly skipped a year without me knowing it...

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Note added at 11 mins (2007-10-02 13:08:15 GMT)
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As this is a contract, you may prefer to use "A shall sell" and "B shall buy".
Note from asker:
Thanks very much for your reply. That's excatly what I have meant to emphasize. I don't see the connection between "bought" and "till ...2008".
Peer comment(s):
neutral CMJ_Trans (X) : unless it's "has bought FOR the period from x to y"
1 min
True, further info would be needed to clarify that point, but contracts do normally refer to future transactions not past ones. Would be "has bought" only if the services to be provided are for products already bought.
agree Craig Meulen : :) great minds think alike .. // CMJ has a point there
1 min
agree Mark Nathan : I was thinking that Mehmet simply hadn't recognized bought as the pp of buy
12 mins
I think it was a test to see if we were actually reading the whole question ;-) I confess it was only when I copied and pasted the dates that I realised it was talking about the future!
agree Carol Gullidge
14 mins
agree Patricia Fierro, M. Sc.
1 hr
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you all very much for your help."
+1
4 mins

past participle of

*

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Note added at 5 mins (2007-10-02 13:02:14 GMT)
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to buy

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Note added at 5 mins (2007-10-02 13:02:37 GMT)
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so, yes, it does make sense

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Note added at 6 mins (2007-10-02 13:03:21 GMT)
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Sorry, having trouble with my keyboard!

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Note added at 11 mins (2007-10-02 13:08:15 GMT)
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the English is not very good, "....the period from...to..." would be better

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Note added at 20 mins (2007-10-02 13:17:25 GMT)
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yes, there is a problem here, as Marie-Hélène has pointed out, it not really clear exactly what they mean
Note from asker:
Thanks very much for your reply. I don't see the connection between "bought" and "till ...2008".
Does the sentence actually make any sense to you?(here, year 08)
Peer comment(s):
agree Jack Doughty
0 min
Something went wrong...
+3
29 mins

has agreed to buy

I agree that it's all very confusing!

Depending on the context, I wonder if it should read "A has agreed/contracted/... to sell, and B has agreed to buy" That would make sense in terms of the timeframe and retains the Present Perfect tense.
Note from asker:
it makes perfectly sense to me. Thanks a million.
Peer comment(s):
agree Craig Meulen : also possible
5 mins
Thanks
agree Marie-Hélène Hayles : yes, that would make sense too.
29 mins
Thanks
agree Patricia Fierro, M. Sc.
52 mins
Thanks
Something went wrong...
+1
1 hr

another possiblity

IMO we need more context here. The tense would be correct if this is a condition for some future event, e.g. 'Y will receive a rebate of xx percent if X has sold and Y has bought upholstery fabrics in the amount of xxx in the period from ddd to ddd'.
Note from asker:
Thank you very much for your help.
Peer comment(s):
agree Marie-Hélène Hayles : yes, if the entire original sentence is a conditional then use of the present perfect would be grammatically correct.
11 mins
Something went wrong...
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