Timeline for Can "since" be preceded by the past simple tense or is it just past/present perfect tenses?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
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| Apr 17, 2017 at 11:55 | review | First posts | |||
| Apr 17, 2017 at 12:08 | |||||
| Apr 17, 2017 at 10:15 | comment | added | Jamesr | Not really, the past perfect is used to clearly identify which action comes first. In the sentence with the past perfect you clarify that the two mice have been caught before checking the kitchen, and since refers to the period starting from [setting the mousetrap = past event 1] until [checking the kitchen = past event 2] where 1 older than 2. It's just a a back-shifting of tense in the past. In the present it would be I'm checking the kitchen and 2 mice have been caught since I first put th mousetrap. | |
| Apr 17, 2017 at 0:15 | comment | added | Ahmed Ayman | I am sorry to bother you again, but i have thought about it one more time and came up with this formula that i want to know if correct: "- I checked the kitchen and found that 2 mice were caught since i first put the mousetrap." Does the past simple tense fit in this sentence or not? | |
| Apr 15, 2017 at 23:56 | vote | accept | Ahmed Ayman | ||
| Apr 15, 2017 at 23:32 | comment | added | Jamesr | try to write the sentence you have in mind. You can in some cases use since with the past perfect if you have already set up an anchor in the past. last month when I checked the kitchen, two mice had been caught since I first set the mousetrap | |
| Apr 15, 2017 at 23:14 | comment | added | Ahmed Ayman | Let me get this clear, so I can't use since as a time linker to describe 2 consequent events that completely ended in the past? | |
| Apr 15, 2017 at 23:03 | history | edited | Jamesr | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 15, 2017 at 23:02 | comment | added | Jamesr | Indeed, best to use "after" in this case. That's what you used actually. 2 years ago just after setting up the mousetrap, I caught two mice | |
| Apr 15, 2017 at 22:50 | comment | added | Ahmed Ayman | So, if I wanted to say that in a past experience that occured to me in the past, I got a result of 2 mice getting caught after setting the mousetrap up I wouldn't use since to mark the event of setting it up? | |
| Apr 15, 2017 at 22:40 | history | answered | Jamesr | CC BY-SA 3.0 |