My book says that there is an error in part A of this sentence.
Had anybody (A) ever told you (B)that you're beautiful ? (C) No error (D)
I googled for the sentence and found results were sentences starting with HAS instead of HAD but why do we have to use HAS here ? In part B tell is in past form ( told ) so shouldn't we use past in part A also ?
A. is the error. Has means up until the present. Had means before some prior time.
Has anyone told you (x)?
This means: up until now, has anyone told you (x)?
Had anyone told you (x) before (y) happened?
This means: before (y) happened, had anyone told you (x)?
This article should help explain.
Present Perfect
Have or has is used with a past participle to form the present perfect tense. This tense designates action which began in the past but continues into the present, or the effect of the action continues into the present.
Past Perfect
This past perfect (also called the pluperfect) is formed with had and a past participle. The past perfect indicates an action that was completed in the past before another action took place.
See also this post.
