Did they come back?

English translation: Did they come back?

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:Did they come back?
Selected answer:Did they come back?
Entered by: B D Finch

20:12 Jan 14, 2020
English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Marketing / Market Research / Marketing
English term or phrase: Did they come back?
You (or your market researchers) should be asking: What did each customer see at Zero Moment Of Truth, and what did they do when they came to the
store? Did they come back? How often? In other words, what was their flight path and where did they land?



Shouldn't it be "will they come back"?
Masoud Kakouli Varnousfaderani
Türkiye
Local time: 11:44
did they come back?
Explanation:
Why assume the writer made an error? Unless this question is in the past tense, the following "How often?" would be unanswerable.

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Note added at 18 hrs (2020-01-15 14:25:28 GMT)
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@Asker
No, I think Francisco is quite wrong and his use of the word "frantic" is completely inappropriate.
Selected response from:

B D Finch
France
Local time: 10:44
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +7did they come back?
B D Finch
3Would they come back?
Thomas Cordy


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


13 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
did they come back?
Would they come back?


Explanation:
If the whole thing is referring to the past (have they been back since the first visit) then it’s fine. But it could also possibly mean "would you come back again?" Difficult to tell from the context.

Thomas Cordy
Portugal
Local time: 09:44
Native speaker of: English
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10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +7
did they come back?
did they come back?


Explanation:
Why assume the writer made an error? Unless this question is in the past tense, the following "How often?" would be unanswerable.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 hrs (2020-01-15 14:25:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

@Asker
No, I think Francisco is quite wrong and his use of the word "frantic" is completely inappropriate.

B D Finch
France
Local time: 10:44
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12
Notes to answerer
Asker: Is It colloquial as Francisco said ?


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  David Hollywood: not broke don't fix it
2 mins
  -> Thanks David

agree  Francisco Chagas: "In-did". The original passage aims to draw a conclusion from any and all customer reactions, and it does so in a frantic (and colloquial) manner. One could even call it a form of "soft-alliteration" [DDDD], something all too frequent in mnemonic devices.
20 mins
  -> Thanks Francisco. However, I think you need to check on the meaning and usage of "frantic" and there's nothing particularly colloquial about it. Also, I don't see any alliteration being used here.

agree  Ali Sharifi
1 hr
  -> Thanks Ali

agree  Tony M: It's not "colloquial" at all — it's just normal EN tense usage, the questions are being asked about something that happened in the past relative to the moment of asking
2 hrs
  -> Thanks Tony. Quite!

agree  Tina Vonhof (X): 'Did' is consistent with the other sentences.
5 hrs
  -> Thanks Tina

agree  Demet Demirtas: The rest of the text refers to the actions in past tense, so the same should follow.
11 hrs
  -> Thanks Demet

agree  David Knowles: Horrible passage but, as Tony M says, the grammar is normal.
13 hrs
  -> Thanks David. Indeed.
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