Timeline for They hadn't finished playing by 18.00. vs They didn't finish playing by 18.00
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 14, 2023 at 6:59 | vote | accept | Sergei | ||
| Jun 12, 2023 at 22:02 | answer | added | gotube♦ | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jun 12, 2023 at 13:41 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | I'd expect a 'before ...' or 'even when ...' clause to follow. // You require << Does the sentence "They didn't finish playing" also sound to be a contradiction or does it make sense by itself? >> // I didn't mention a contradiction; 'They didn't finish playing by 6 o'clock' sounds unnatural without context –'They hadn't finished playing by 6 o'clock' is more idiomatic. | |
| Jun 12, 2023 at 12:53 | comment | added | Sergei | @EdwinAshworth, Does a sentence "They didn't finish playing." also sound as a contradiction or it makes sense by itself. | |
| Jun 12, 2023 at 9:48 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | The only context where I can see 'They didn't finish playing by 18:00 / 6 pm / six' sounding natural is to refute a firmly stated ''They finished playing by 18:00 / 6 pm / six' ... and didn't would be emphasised. | |
| Jun 11, 2023 at 23:22 | comment | added | tchrist | Bear in mind that "18.00" is not an English time. Do you mean six o’clock in the evening? You should write that as 6pm, although train schedules and such would use "18:00". But we do not write it like dollars and cents in America; it looks wrong, so use a colon. | |
| Jun 11, 2023 at 17:01 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | True "Simple Past" would be They finished playing by 1800, but English requires "do-support" to express that in the negative. Putting that aside, your distinction looks spurious to me. To the extent there's a difference, the Past Perfect version simply reports that they were still playing at 1800 (which time is probably the "narrative reference time" of the context within which it occurs). The "Simple Past with do-support" version strongly implies hat they were supposed to have finished by then (but the surrounding context might not be 1800 anyway; the main point is they "overran"). | |
| Jun 11, 2023 at 13:48 | history | asked | Sergei | CC BY-SA 4.0 |