Questions tagged [past-vs-past-perfect]
is for questions about when to use the past tense versus the past perfect tense
225 questions
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"was" or "had been"?
Which version sounds better for native speakers:
In the summer of 1967, Australia's prime minister was reported/had been reported missing. He had walked into the sea and was never seen / had never ...
Nadine Munz
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2
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About sequence of tenses
If a main clause is in past simple and a subordinated clause is in past perfect but a subordinated clause has its own subordinated clause that happens simultaneously with the clause in past perfect, ...
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Things didn't work out the way I expected them to (had expected them to?)
"Things didn't work out the way I expected them to" or "Things didn't work out the way I'd expected them to"
"He made me say so many things I never thought I’d say" or &...
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Difference between Past Simple and Past Perfect with "when"
She had a ball when I came in
She had had a ball when I came in
Is the meaning the same or 2 implies that she had the ball all the time and once I entered she stopped having it?
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Past or perfect
Which is better?
Now I need money. I have nothing to sell except the books that my mother has bought me.
Or
Now I need money. I have nothing to sell except the books that my mother bought me.
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A problem with mixing tenses
In The Cradle Will Fall by Mary Higgins Clark:
when he dropped her off that night he'd said,''you have the loveliest blue eyes I've ever had the pleasure of looking into.I don't
think a twelve-year ...
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We had been / were waiting for an hour
We were waiting for an hour.
We had been waiting for an hour when she finally came.
we were waiting for an hour when she finally came.
what's the difference in these sentences?
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Is past simple possible in "Today I learned that you (had) released an LP"?
I bought the single when it was out almost 4 years ago and since then I have always played it , still one of my faves . Today I learned that you (had) released an LP and but it seems to be sold out ...
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How to Address Ambiguity in Past-Perfect Clauses with Unclear Temporal Context
UPDATE: The question has been edited to make the compared examples more consistent with each other.
[1] Beverly felt a relief that was similar to the relief she had felt when the bathroom was clean ...
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Why was I answered "yes it did" for this question "has the payment gone through?"?
I made an order through the net and as I was not sure my payment had gone through I sent an email(just after ordering) to be sure that the seller received it . So I asked "has my payment gone ...
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Should I use past perfect here?
I got the record this morning but I can't listen to it because it is warped. But it did not happen in the transit, it was very well packed. The pressing of the record was itself a very bad one.
I ...
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Can you always substitute the 1st (event’s) Simple Past with Past Perfect, without changing meaning?
What changes semantically, when I replace the 1st preceding event's Past Tense with Past Perfect? If no semantics change, then can I always substitute the 1st event's Past Tense with Past Perfect?
...
user167167
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I showed him some snapshots that ... "I had taken in London” or "I took in London"
I understand the past perfect tense and I clearly understand the meaning of the sentence below.
I showed him some snapshots that I had taken in London.
However, a friend of mine asked me if the ...
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“She played for a while” vs "She had played for a while"
Some time in the summer of 1981 Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon and Lee
Ranaldo collided in NYC's Lower East Side and formed Sonic Youth.
At the age of 18 Thurston had travelled from Connecticut to live ...
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Past Perfect or Past Simple or Past Continuous!
I have the following task in my grammar book
‘A young man was walking through a supermarket. Suddenly he noticed that he (follow) by an old lady.
I put ‘had been followed’ because it seemed to me that ...
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Before she became queen, she had always said that she had not wanted to marry. - Indirect reported speech
This is about indirect reported speech:
Before she became queen, she had always said that she does not want to marry.
Looks logical to me (since the time has already been introduced with past perfect)...
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The use of past perfect tense with "after" [duplicate]
This is a passage from "Never finished" by David Goggins.
"I was hoping to find some answers that would help me change my life. That was what I told myself, anyway, as I crossed into ...
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how to understand where it is better not to use Past Perfect?
I am confused, because I use Past Perfect even where it's not needed. Please, help me to figure out.
For instance, why we don't say:
We had had nothing in common with her, so we quickly lost contact....
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"went, have gone, have been"?
I know that you use "have been to" instead of "have gone to" when you mention your past experience. But how about the case below?
Italy was the first foreign country I went to.
...
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When had you met him? vs. When did you meet him?
When I searched for "When had you met him" in Google Books, I found "Warren Commission: Complete Investigation & Commission's Report", which includes:
Mr. GRIFFIN. Do you ...
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"could be" Vs "could have been" in this case
Question1: What caused the explosion?
Answer1: The explosion could have been caused by a gas leak. (I think this is correct.)
Answer2: The explosion could be caused by a gas leak. (I think this is ...
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Is it true that when we use 'before' with the Past Perfect tense, the action in the past simple happens first?
I've stumbled across the following rule in the grammar book 'My Grammar Lab': with before + past perfect the action in the past simple happens first. The following example has been given: I left ...
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"couldn't have done" VS "couldn't do" in this example
A: The original plan was to start from the tree line at the bottom of
the mountain but the explorers couldn’t set up camp there because of
the rain so they moved higher up.
B: The Robertson team ...
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Is it possible to use "already" with the past simple in this example?
I did not remember that I already bought it.
or
I did not remember that I had already bought it.
I think that past simple works as it is not a narrative and it is obvious that the action of buying ...
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Why is it correct to use the past simple "she did it" instead of the past perfect?
At the end of a movie, the main character kills the mean people and another person replies "she did it".
Why did he use past simple? I would have used "she has done it* because the ...
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"He was employed since 2007"
"He was employed since 2007"(to date)".(is incorrect)
"He was employed from 2007 to 2020".(is correct)
"He had been employed since 2007".(is correct)
I believe ...
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Is it gramatically correct to use "had been" and "had" in a complex sentence like this?
My question is about using "had" and "had been" in a complex sentence. A character is flashing back over something that happened about an hour ago, and I write:
"I had been ...
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Past perfect not being used in casual speech?
Is it true that most people don't use the past perfect in casual conversation and the following monologue is usual for native speakers?
"So I saw Maggie and I asked her why
she didn't come to the ...
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How to use the past perfect continuous tense appropriately?
Which of the following is a correct sentence?
He was waiting for two hours after she had arrived.
or
He had been waiting for two hours after she had arrived.
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Can we use "before" after "than" as in "than before" for a sentence in past tense
Do the following sentences have the same meaning?
a. The economic situation is better than before.
b. The economic situation is better than it used to be.
c. The economic situation is better than it ...
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past and perfect tense
The young prince had a slender body smeared with sandal cream which had dried out;
I understand that the incident is the narration of something that had happened. So "simple past - had a slender ...
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Isn't past simple in this exercise also correct?
The sentence is as follows:
You see, when Elvis died, he _ (already, be) super famous for years.
You have to use the verb in the bracket and put it into the right tense. I've used the past simple, ...
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Can past simple past works too
I have found these two sentences where past perfect seems to be obligatory. I was just wondering if past simple can work too. Here are the examples:
I had set my alarm before I went to bed, but ...
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Past participle vs simple past in 2 clause sentence
I was doing a grammar exercise about clauses with past perfect and past simple. I got the answer, but I want to understand the reason. This is the question -
The doorbell woke me up. When the ...
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In the centuries after the group separated/had separated?
I came across a sentence which has confused me because it is written in simple past instead of past perfect.
The sentence is:
In the centuries after the group separated, they evolved in two separate ...
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were already developed vs had already been developed
In a previous question, I got an answer that says that you can't write "the song had already been well rehearsed" because once it is well rehearsed you don't need to rehearse the song.
Would ...
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I would never have understood what he meant/had meant if you hadn’t told me
Could someone help me understand what’s the difference between these two sentences?
A. I would never have understood what he had meant if you hadn’t told me.
B. I would never have understood what he ...
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In terms of appropriateness, do (since + past) and (since + perfect) have different meaning and usage?
This problem is discussed in Advanced Oxford Grammar and the book explains that different tenses are possible in sentences with since. By the way, I quoted the explanations and some examples below:
...
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Is this correct? (past tense vs past perfect)
I thought you would have picked him up from school.
I had thought you would have picked him from school.
In the first case "thought" verb on the timeline comes after the "picking"...
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"I haven't" "I hadn't" "I didn't" Which one is the best in the context?
Please imagine you liked Super Mario when you were a kid and that you are going to play it for the first time in a decade or two.
Before playing it, you'd say
"Oh, I haven't played Super Mario ...
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Simple past with the "by some point in the past" phrase. What to choose and when?
Why does it use the past simple tense rather than the past perfect (had been)?
(1) Odenkirk confirmed by early September 2021 that he was back on set
filming.
The source: https://en.wikipedia.org/...
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Difference between was and had been
I would like to know how are the two sentences different in meaning:
She was never bothered about the grandmother.
She had never been bothered about the grandmother.
What difference passive forms of ...
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Simple past and past perfect tense [duplicate]
Stories are mostly written in simple past tense.(let's call it past 1) To explain an event that happened even before past 1 we use past perfect tense.(let's call it past 2) Now if we want to add a ...
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past perfect with 'when' [duplicate]
Alice walked to the door when the doorbell rang
Alice walked to the door when the doorbell had rung
In (1) it is clear in which order the actions occured. The doorbell rang. Then, Alice walked to ...
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I wonder if the PP tense in some (or all) of these sentences is either optional or mandatory or wrong
Yesterday I watched the movie “Father”. I hadn’t expected it, but the
movie proved to be a masterpiece. This morning I was surprised to
learn that the 93d Oscar ceremony had been held last night, and
...
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Past perfect for two simultaneous events "Her business had proved that it was possible to be sustainable and profitable at the same time."
Could anyone please explain me why we use past perfect instead of past simple before “that” in the sentence below? As I understand, we use past perfect in a sequence of events to show that the action ...
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Questions related to tense
I am kind of confused....
Are the two sentences below the same?
Let’s pretend that none of this had ever/never happened.
Let’s pretend that none of this have ever/never happened.
If it’s different, ...
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Are perfect and simple tenses interchangeable in these examples? Do they have any difference?
Sci-fi movies earned the most income each year between 2006 and 2010.
Sci-fi movies had earned the most income each year between 2006 and 2010.
It is forecast that car ownership will decline by 10% in ...
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Is the past perfect correct here?
From a movie. Two cyclists talking after a short race.
A: How is that for slow?
B: You gotta give me a second chance! I'll race you through the tunnel.
A: You're on. Hadn't had enough? (meaning I ...
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past perfect or past simple with work
is there any difference between these sentences?
I had worked hard so I needed a break
I worked hard so I needed a break
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