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Is the sentence below correct?

"It was not until he bought a car that he started driving and go to work by car."

I know that the following part of the sentence is correct:

"It was not until he bought a car that he started driving."

but the "and go to work by car" part bothers me, because it sounds correct, and it flows well in my text, but the present tense mixing with past tense is a little weird.

Another example:

It was not until he began lifting weights that he started growing and get big.

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2 Answers 2

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You're right to be feeling wrong, because the second part of both sentences is incorrect tense-wise.

To be correct, the first sentence should be:

It was not until he bought a car that he started driving and going to work by car.

The second example:

It was not until he began lifting weights that he started growing and getting big.

For purposes of simplicity, it's better in terms of readability to write:

It wasn't until he bought a car that he started driving to work.

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I think, in this particular situation, it would be easiest to remove the part that bothers you, "and go to work by car."

How about this: "It was not until he bought a car that he could drive to work."

The reiteration of the word "car" later in the sentence is redundant. We already know what he bought, now we simply have to indicate what utility the car provides the person we're writing about.

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  • I would say that the second "car" is not redundant. Leaving "car" out would imply that he never went to work before he bought the car.
    – BoldBen
    Jan 27, 2017 at 22:52
  • "It was not until he bought a car that he could drive to work."
    – J Sears
    Jan 27, 2017 at 23:29

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