Questions tagged [past-vs-past-perfect]
is for questions about when to use the past tense versus the past perfect tense
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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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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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“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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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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Completed Action/ final condition / final state of action / Event at that time in Reporting Speech?
The past perfect is used to communicate an event completed before another event in the past.
But in newspaper I read in some news that past perfect and simple past is being used to communicate the ...
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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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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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Correct use of tense for interview questions?
Q) How did you manage your studies?
Ans (a) I did not study hard. I had prepared one timetable and followed it.
Ans (b) I did not study hard. I prepared one timetable and followed it.
Which one ...
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The past perfect tense is used in the main clause and in the subordinate?
I saw a sentence in the Collins English Dictionary:
He had squirmed and wriggled and screeched when his father had washed his face.
I rarely see a sentence which uses the past perfect tense both in ...
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usage of adverbial clauses
1)After you go through the book, please return it to me.
2) After you have gone through the book, please return it to me
What is the difference in meaning of these two sentences? Which sentence ...
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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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she did it? is it correct
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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Is it possible to use past simple instead of past perfect in "...all the washing up HAD BEEN DONE..."?
There's the following sentence in my Grammar book:
It was a lovely surprise to find that all the washing-up HAD BEEN DONE while I was asleep.
The only answer mentioned in the answer key is past ...
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past simple & past perfect
What is the difference between using the simple past in two parts of the sentence and using the past simple in one part and the past perfect in the other part. For example:
"As soon as the light ...
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Past perfect usage
I went over to John's place three months ago. (this sentence should mean the speaker went over to john's place three months before now.)
I had visited John's, three months ago.
Without a reference ...
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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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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 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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What is the best "had or had expected " in this case
It turned out that what happened was different from what I expected in my mind.
I would like to know if my sentence is idiomatic and if we can write the following?
It turned out that what happened ...
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Why "I hadn't noticed" instead of "I didn't notice"/"I haven't notice"?
I see that I hadn't noticed is commonly used by native speakers, more than the pair I didn't notice and I haven't noticed ,in the following example
People are being more careful nowadays, don't you ...
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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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"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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"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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Should this reported speech use "was" or "had been" to convert "was"?
When you have a sentence in the direct speech talking about someone’s age such as “a producer discovered me when I was 13”
How does it change into the reported speech?
he said a producer had ...
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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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Past perfect vs past simple confusion
Should I say:
My hair was uneven for years.
My hair had been uneven for years.
For sure I'm talking about a time in the past.
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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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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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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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"Joe told me how he spent time at a birthday party." "He told me how he had spent time at a birthday party." [duplicate]
My friend (let's say he's named Joe) is telling me how he spent time at a birthday party. Two days later I want to talk about that to my other friend (let's say Ryan). What's the right way?
Joe told ...
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What is the difference in meanings between "He was waiting for me" and "He had been waiting for me"?
He was waiting for me when I arrived.
He had been waiting for me when I arrived.
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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 progressive for a finished event
It was Friday, the first day of our skiing holiday, and my friend Jason and I __________ down the mountain together. We wanted to catch the ski lift back down to our hotel.
I answered had been skiing,...
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"since" and the tense in the main clause
School grammar says the tense /aspect of the main clause is the present or past perfect if the subordinate clause or phrase begins with since.
That said, what do you think about the acceptability of ...
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"We can really do what [we were]/[we've been] pretending to do"
Which one is right out of the following?
We can really do what we were pretending to do
We can really do what we've been pretending to do
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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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After she had completed her home work, she went to bed
After she had completed her home work, she went to bed.
Is the sentence correct or not? Is it had completed or have completed?
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I -/Have/Had Never Thought Of That?
I am currently a bit confused about the difference between these 3 phrases:
I have never thought of that. (present perfect)
I had never thought of that. (past perfect)
I never thought of that. (past ...
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