呢句係咩tense??

This sentence consists of a main clause "I am sorry", which is in simple present tense, and a subordinated clasue "that I had you stay here and sleep on this couch", which is in simple past tense.

The first part is straightforward. The person was talking directly to Serena, so the verb of the main clause was "am" which was in "simple present tense".

While the person was talking directily to Serena, he was referring to a past event, about Serena sleeping on the couch, so that part was in simple past tense. The only "verb" in this subordinated clause is "had", which is simple past tense; "stay" and "sleep" are used here as bare infinitives (infinitives without "to"), so they do not belong to any tense, but fall within the tense of the verb "had", which is simple past tense.

Usually an infinitive follows a "to", such as in "I want to go home", or "I wanted him to visit me".

For some verbs of the "senses", such as "see", "watch", "hear", or "feel", they can be followed by a "bare infinitive", for example, "I saw him take the cookie", "I heard him cry".

Similarly, for some verbs of "permission", such as "make", "let", or "have", they can be followed by a "bare infinitive", for example, "I made him apologive to his friend for being rude", "I let him take all the cookies he wants", or "I had him clean up the kitchen".


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2011-05-22 14:09:49 補充：
Toby:
The person in the movie said to Serena "I am sorry", so the sentence is in simple present tense, with the verb "am". It also contains a subordinated clause in simple past tense to describe the event which made him feel sorry.

2011-05-29 15:33:54 補充：
Apart from the spelling mistakes, all the comments from Radioman on my English writing were incorrect. I have to admire his courage and diligence in picking on others' errors, while writng terrible English himself.

2011-05-29 15:37:09 補充：
OOPS. I forgot Radioman is now calling himself "fight ganster", among other pseudonyms.

fight gangster(Radioman):
The following are quoted from "Practical English Usage" written by Michael Swan:
"Have" can be followed by object + infinitive (without to), object + -ing, and object + past participle.

2011-05-30 01:21:59 補充：
e.g. (1) I had everybody fill out a form. (2) He had us laughing all through the meal. (3) If you don't get out of my house I'll have you arrested! (4) King Charles I had his head cut off.

所以這句是什麼tense = =