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I have always been a fan of soap operas for years . I always watch my favorite show three times a week. In fact, until about a week ago, I had never missed an episode.

Why using a present " always watch" and not" had always watched"I find this present strange strange because this affirmation is not true at the time of writing.The tense should be the same as in the following sentence: I had never missed an episode and had always watched my show three times a week until about a week ago https://www.academia.edu/4349276/10_texts_to_revise_mixed_tenses_with_key

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  • The Perfect verb form is completely unnecessary in your until about a week ago, I had never missed an episode. You might just about justify it if your next sentence specifically focused on the events of last week that caused you to miss an episode, but even then it's probably stylistically better to stick with Simple Past. Non-native speakers always tend to overuse Perfect verb forms, and you should actively work to avoid doing so (in all contexts except TEFL exams, where they just want evidence that you can use Perfect forms, even if they're not needed).
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Apr 7, 2023 at 18:53
  • The "simple present tense" is not very well named; it should be called something like the "general truth tense". If you generally watch your favorite show three times a week, the simple present is still fine.
    – stangdon
    Commented Apr 7, 2023 at 19:57
  • why would it better stylistically to stick to past simple even if the next sentence focused on the events last week ?
    – Yves Lefol
    Commented Apr 8, 2023 at 9:30

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The past perfect seems to be a good choice here. The paragraph is mostly focussed on the present. It is describing how dedicated you are to the show. But to make the point you need to describe an event in the past "A week ago", but more specifically events leading up to that point in the past. You are indirectly discussing your dedication now by describing your state one week ago, resulting from actions that occurred before that time....(phew)

That is the classic situation for the past perfect: hence "Until one week ago I'd never missed an episode".

Past tense wouldn't be wrong, but it wouldn't be my natural choice.

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  • what do you think of the present tense of always watch why not I had always watched because this statement was not true at the time of writing
    – Yves Lefol
    Commented Apr 10, 2023 at 11:09
  • what do you think of the present tense of always watch .Why not I had always watched because this statement was not true at the time of writing and does "for years" accentuate the use of past perfect
    – Yves Lefol
    Commented Apr 10, 2023 at 11:14
  • That is fine for me, it is a slight exaggeration and not literally true, but I think we understand that it means "unless there are circumstances outside of my control". It's fine as a slight fib.
    – James K
    Commented Apr 10, 2023 at 16:37

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