Can i use “one day” for the past?
Can i use "one day" to talk about something happen in the past?
For example, can i say "I went to Paris one day"?
If this is grammatically correct, does it mean that i spent exact 1 day in Paris?
grammar
asked 18 hours ago
hehe
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Can i use "one day" to talk about something happen in the past?
For example, can i say "I went to Paris one day"?
If this is grammatically correct, does it mean that i spent exact 1 day in Paris?
grammar
asked 18 hours ago
hehe
61
New contributor
hehe is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Can i use "one day" to talk about something happen in the past?
For example, can i say "I went to Paris one day"?
If this is grammatically correct, does it mean that i spent exact 1 day in Paris?
grammar
asked 18 hours ago
hehe
61
New contributor
hehe is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Can i use "one day" to talk about something happen in the past?
For example, can i say "I went to Paris one day"?
If this is grammatically correct, does it mean that i spent exact 1 day in Paris?
grammar
grammar
asked 18 hours ago
hehe
61
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asked 18 hours ago
hehe
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asked 18 hours ago
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asked 18 hours ago
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asked 18 hours ago
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Your sentence is perfectly correct and the meaning of one day is that it happened upon some day in the past. It doesn't specify anything about the duration though, it just states that it has already happened.
answered 18 hours ago
tyler1
1813
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"I went to Paris one day"?
If this is grammatically correct [ it is], does it mean that i spent exact 1 day in Paris? [No - length of stay is not defined and signifies an event in the past].
one day. OED This sense of the phrase is from Oxford English Dictionary:
on a particular day in the past; on some unspecified day in the
future. Cf. day n. Phrases
"I’d like to go to Mexico again one day. This signifies an event in the future.
answered 13 hours ago
lbf
17.6k21864
add a comment |
We use "one day" to talk about things we have a fairly vague desire or ambition to do in the future. For example "I want to go to Paris one day". However it does not mean that you only want to go for a single day, indeed you could say "I want to live in Paris one day" which would suggest that you would really like to move there permanently.
If you want to talk about something you did once but don't want to include any details you would use "once", for example "I went to Paris once". This would suggest that you have only been there once but does not say how long you stayed. However if you went there many times but did something specific on one occasion ypu might say something like "I went to Paris once and saw Paris St Germain play Man United".
If you lived there permanently for a while you could say "I lived in Paris once".
The only way in which you can use "one day" to refer to the past is to invert the word order. You can say "One day I went to Paris" but not "I went to Paris one day".
In summary, no, "I went to Paris one day" is not used to speak about the past. No native speaker would do that.
answered 17 hours ago
BoldBen
5,155716
You would only use 'one day' with reference to the past when telling a story - "One day Goldilocks went for a walk in the woods." In speaking of your own experiences you would use 'once'.
– Kate Bunting
5 hours ago
add a comment |
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3 Answers
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3 Answers
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Your sentence is perfectly correct and the meaning of one day is that it happened upon some day in the past. It doesn't specify anything about the duration though, it just states that it has already happened.
answered 18 hours ago
tyler1
1813
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tyler1 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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Your sentence is perfectly correct and the meaning of one day is that it happened upon some day in the past. It doesn't specify anything about the duration though, it just states that it has already happened.
answered 18 hours ago
tyler1
1813
New contributor
tyler1 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Your sentence is perfectly correct and the meaning of one day is that it happened upon some day in the past. It doesn't specify anything about the duration though, it just states that it has already happened.
answered 18 hours ago
tyler1
1813
New contributor
tyler1 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Your sentence is perfectly correct and the meaning of one day is that it happened upon some day in the past. It doesn't specify anything about the duration though, it just states that it has already happened.
answered 18 hours ago
tyler1
1813
New contributor
tyler1 is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 18 hours ago
tyler1
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answered 18 hours ago
tyler1
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answered 18 hours ago
tyler1
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add a comment |
add a comment |
"I went to Paris one day"?
If this is grammatically correct [ it is], does it mean that i spent exact 1 day in Paris? [No - length of stay is not defined and signifies an event in the past].
one day. OED This sense of the phrase is from Oxford English Dictionary:
on a particular day in the past; on some unspecified day in the
future. Cf. day n. Phrases
"I’d like to go to Mexico again one day. This signifies an event in the future.
answered 13 hours ago
lbf
17.6k21864
add a comment |
"I went to Paris one day"?
If this is grammatically correct [ it is], does it mean that i spent exact 1 day in Paris? [No - length of stay is not defined and signifies an event in the past].
one day. OED This sense of the phrase is from Oxford English Dictionary:
on a particular day in the past; on some unspecified day in the
future. Cf. day n. Phrases
"I’d like to go to Mexico again one day. This signifies an event in the future.
answered 13 hours ago
lbf
17.6k21864
add a comment |
"I went to Paris one day"?
If this is grammatically correct [ it is], does it mean that i spent exact 1 day in Paris? [No - length of stay is not defined and signifies an event in the past].
one day. OED This sense of the phrase is from Oxford English Dictionary:
on a particular day in the past; on some unspecified day in the
future. Cf. day n. Phrases
"I’d like to go to Mexico again one day. This signifies an event in the future.
answered 13 hours ago
lbf
17.6k21864
"I went to Paris one day"?
If this is grammatically correct [ it is], does it mean that i spent exact 1 day in Paris? [No - length of stay is not defined and signifies an event in the past].
one day. OED This sense of the phrase is from Oxford English Dictionary:
on a particular day in the past; on some unspecified day in the
future. Cf. day n. Phrases
"I’d like to go to Mexico again one day. This signifies an event in the future.
answered 13 hours ago
lbf
17.6k21864
answered 13 hours ago
lbf
17.6k21864
answered 13 hours ago
lbf
17.6k21864
answered 13 hours ago
lbf
17.6k21864
17.6k21864
add a comment |
add a comment |
We use "one day" to talk about things we have a fairly vague desire or ambition to do in the future. For example "I want to go to Paris one day". However it does not mean that you only want to go for a single day, indeed you could say "I want to live in Paris one day" which would suggest that you would really like to move there permanently.
If you want to talk about something you did once but don't want to include any details you would use "once", for example "I went to Paris once". This would suggest that you have only been there once but does not say how long you stayed. However if you went there many times but did something specific on one occasion ypu might say something like "I went to Paris once and saw Paris St Germain play Man United".
If you lived there permanently for a while you could say "I lived in Paris once".
The only way in which you can use "one day" to refer to the past is to invert the word order. You can say "One day I went to Paris" but not "I went to Paris one day".
In summary, no, "I went to Paris one day" is not used to speak about the past. No native speaker would do that.
answered 17 hours ago
BoldBen
5,155716
You would only use 'one day' with reference to the past when telling a story - "One day Goldilocks went for a walk in the woods." In speaking of your own experiences you would use 'once'.
– Kate Bunting
5 hours ago
add a comment |
We use "one day" to talk about things we have a fairly vague desire or ambition to do in the future. For example "I want to go to Paris one day". However it does not mean that you only want to go for a single day, indeed you could say "I want to live in Paris one day" which would suggest that you would really like to move there permanently.
If you want to talk about something you did once but don't want to include any details you would use "once", for example "I went to Paris once". This would suggest that you have only been there once but does not say how long you stayed. However if you went there many times but did something specific on one occasion ypu might say something like "I went to Paris once and saw Paris St Germain play Man United".
If you lived there permanently for a while you could say "I lived in Paris once".
The only way in which you can use "one day" to refer to the past is to invert the word order. You can say "One day I went to Paris" but not "I went to Paris one day".
In summary, no, "I went to Paris one day" is not used to speak about the past. No native speaker would do that.
answered 17 hours ago
BoldBen
5,155716
You would only use 'one day' with reference to the past when telling a story - "One day Goldilocks went for a walk in the woods." In speaking of your own experiences you would use 'once'.
– Kate Bunting
5 hours ago
add a comment |
We use "one day" to talk about things we have a fairly vague desire or ambition to do in the future. For example "I want to go to Paris one day". However it does not mean that you only want to go for a single day, indeed you could say "I want to live in Paris one day" which would suggest that you would really like to move there permanently.
If you want to talk about something you did once but don't want to include any details you would use "once", for example "I went to Paris once". This would suggest that you have only been there once but does not say how long you stayed. However if you went there many times but did something specific on one occasion ypu might say something like "I went to Paris once and saw Paris St Germain play Man United".
If you lived there permanently for a while you could say "I lived in Paris once".
The only way in which you can use "one day" to refer to the past is to invert the word order. You can say "One day I went to Paris" but not "I went to Paris one day".
In summary, no, "I went to Paris one day" is not used to speak about the past. No native speaker would do that.
answered 17 hours ago
BoldBen
5,155716
We use "one day" to talk about things we have a fairly vague desire or ambition to do in the future. For example "I want to go to Paris one day". However it does not mean that you only want to go for a single day, indeed you could say "I want to live in Paris one day" which would suggest that you would really like to move there permanently.
If you want to talk about something you did once but don't want to include any details you would use "once", for example "I went to Paris once". This would suggest that you have only been there once but does not say how long you stayed. However if you went there many times but did something specific on one occasion ypu might say something like "I went to Paris once and saw Paris St Germain play Man United".
If you lived there permanently for a while you could say "I lived in Paris once".
The only way in which you can use "one day" to refer to the past is to invert the word order. You can say "One day I went to Paris" but not "I went to Paris one day".
In summary, no, "I went to Paris one day" is not used to speak about the past. No native speaker would do that.
answered 17 hours ago
BoldBen
5,155716
answered 17 hours ago
BoldBen
5,155716
answered 17 hours ago
BoldBen
5,155716
answered 17 hours ago
BoldBen
5,155716
5,155716
You would only use 'one day' with reference to the past when telling a story - "One day Goldilocks went for a walk in the woods." In speaking of your own experiences you would use 'once'.
– Kate Bunting
5 hours ago
add a comment |
You would only use 'one day' with reference to the past when telling a story - "One day Goldilocks went for a walk in the woods." In speaking of your own experiences you would use 'once'.
– Kate Bunting
5 hours ago
You would only use 'one day' with reference to the past when telling a story - "One day Goldilocks went for a walk in the woods." In speaking of your own experiences you would use 'once'.
– Kate Bunting
5 hours ago
You would only use 'one day' with reference to the past when telling a story - "One day Goldilocks went for a walk in the woods." In speaking of your own experiences you would use 'once'.
– Kate Bunting
5 hours ago
add a comment |
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