I can't make my mind up on this one... He left the door opened he left the door half opened He left the door ajar. He did not close the door. He did not shut the door. which are you most likely to use? and is it better to use the passive voice as in ''the door is left ajar''
He left the door opened [poor grammar with the 'ed' ending] he left the door half opened [ditto] He left the door ajar. He did not close the door. He did not shut the door. which are you most likely to use? [any of those are ok, if 'ed' removed] and is it better to use the passive voice as in ''the door is left ajar'' [not necessarily 'better' but could work just as well, except for 'is' which should be 'was']
Thank you mamma. so you would say the door was left ajar rather then the door is left ajar. I am not sure I understand the difference.
The door is not currently being acted upon. It was left partly open in some past moment, therefore past tense applies. The door was left ajar. (At some past time, someone either patrtially opened or closed the door and left it in that state) The door is ajar. (Now you are describing the current state of the door, not how it came to be that way) The door was ajar. (You are describing the door's state at some previous time. You may or may not know whether it is still ajar) All of these are valid, but not equivalent in meaning. The reason "The door is left opened" is a poor choice is because the context favors an adjective, not a verb tense. "Opened" is a verb past tense; however "open" in this case is not a verb at all, but an adjective.
Thank you Cogito Ok so how about the opposite? He left the door open. or it is open versus it is close or closed?
'he left the door open' means he found it open and did not close it... 'it is close' means something is nearby... 'it is closed' means it is not open...
