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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Past Progressive or Past Perfect Progressive? [duplicate]
In a past narrative, I often see people using Past Perfect Progressive for things that are still true, which is odd to me, as the Past Perfect Progressive is an action that started in the past and ...
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What’s the different between says and said
Ken says that he lived many years in England.
Ken said that he had lived many years in England.
What’s the different between this two sentences? I know one is present tense and the other is past ...
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3
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have been accusing vs have been accused
I am learning Academic English. At one lesson, I found the following sentences:
Some people have been accusing X of starting it.
X have been pushing for more efforts to prevent this possibility.
I ...
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3
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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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I've lost my key, but I found it just now
Are the two sentences correct?
I've lost my key, but luckily I've found it again.
I've lost my key, but luckily I found it just now.
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Is the sentence clear enough without past perfect
In fact Rich sent all the goods he had on hold for me but he forgot to include in the parcel the book and the problem is that he moved just after sending the goods and did not take it with him.
...
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Why "His dad joined" instead of "His dad had joined"?
Why past simple "joined", not past perfect "had joined" in this sentence:
His dad joined the army before he was born.
This sentence is from a course of the A.J. Hoge.
My opinion is:
"......
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"Had left" or "left "
Can we use this sentence:
He hadn't talked to his parents since he left school.
instead of this one:
He hadn't talked to his parents since he had left school.
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Some doubts about the usage of Past Perfect in these context
I am encountering some problems filling these space in this exercises:
A: Have you seen Matt recently?
B: Matt? He’s in Canada.
A: Really? How long has he been in Canada?
B: About a year now. ...
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tense and aspect: had imagined or imagined?
In the following passage, could "had ever imagined" be replaced by "ever imagined"? Any difference of meaning?
More than ever before, our language and our ideas about language are changing as ...
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Past Perfect Continuous vs Past Simple
My teacher says that it's not correct to answer the test
"How long (rain) yesterday?"
as "How long did it rain yesterday?"
She says there is only one way to do the problem with "how long" in the past ...
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sequence of tenses in subordinate sentences
The UK could flourish once the shackles of EU membership were released.
or
The UK could flourish once the shackles of EU membership had been released.
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Past Perfect or Perfect Tense?
I have some questions regarding past perfect tense, as I am still quite confused about the usage.
Which one of the below is correct?
The books that her parents got her had not made her an ...
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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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Can I use only past simple in this sentence?
I have a sentence which I think is fine. But maybe I should change the second part from past simple to past perfect. It’s an entry on my website.
July 2015: I organised my first family camp in ...
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What is the correct way to indicate a state which lasted before an action?
I have difficulty understanding the usage of the English Past Tenses. Here's the first sentence and a picture which shows the state and the action in time:
I was kind to them for a month before I ...
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Is using Past Perfect obligatory?
Here are, suppose, two sentences:
Before she went to college, Bridget waited tables to save up for her tuition.
Before she went to college, Bridget had waited tables to save up
for her ...
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"No sooner had ... than" and "No sooner did ... than"
Are both of the following sentences grammatically correct?
No sooner had the committee made the announcement than everyone started complaining
No sooner did the committee made the announcement ...
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Past perfect: "had heard"
I had heard they started training exercises outside of town a few days ago.
Why (had heard) not heard ? Don't we use pp to talk about something that happened before another action in the same ...
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Did you hear that or Have you heard that
Could you please help me to understand which sentence sounds more correct (and explain why), or suggest your own version?
Did you hear that John has made a fortune with his new business?
Have you ...
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1
answer
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Tenses in 'Did I tell you what happened to me?'
Why can't we use Past Perfect in the second clause of the sentence
'Did I tell you what happened to me?'
if the second clause happened before 'Did I tell you'
As far as I know, we use Past ...
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Text dexcribing my military service - not sure if correct, grammar-wise [closed]
I could use some help :) I know that you don't proofread, but I don't know where to ask.
I had been recruited to the Military on the 20th of October, 2013. As a combat service supporter in the ...
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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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2
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Past perfect tense and simple past [duplicate]
When Jack entered the room, I had not recognized him because he lost so much weight.
For above sentence,I use past perfect tense(had not recognized),because there were two situations in the past.
...
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2
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Past Simple without specified time
I saw the following two sentence:
The oldest person I met was 90 years old.
Is it correct? Or would it be better as:
The oldest person I've met was 90 years old.
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Which tense to choose: Past Simple or Past Perfect?
Which is correct:
We didn't play football yesterday. The match was canceled/had been canceled.
I think was canceled is correct, but the second? - I'm confused. Maybe firstly the match was ...
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What is the difference between "introduced", "had introduced" and "have introduced"?
Although Immanuel Kant, one of the greatest thinkers in the history of philosophy, --- many pieces of technical terminology to articulate the themes of his critical philosophy, perhaps none --- more ...
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Is it "The last book that I have read" or "The last book that I read"?
Today we had an assignment where I had to write about the latest book that I read.
Is it more correct saying "The last book that I have read" or "The last book that I read" ?. Then, is it correct to ...
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What makes more sense in English "i had had breakfast then went to school" or "i had breakfast then went to school"?
i am so confused right now , they both look the same to me
as far as i understand past perfect is used to talk about an action that was completed before some point in the past
so :
"i had had ...
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Proper use of Past Perfect Vs Past Simple [duplicate]
English is my second language. I've learned all tense rule. Problem is every day I'm facing a huge confusion between Past simple and Past Perfect.
According to grammar rule, we can you use Past ...
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Past Simple/Perfect + never
In an English textbook I come across an exapmle without any context
He went to Africa and never came back
What does it mean?
We use Present Simple + never when we are talking about a habit, a ...
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Is the sentence grammatically correct? (Concerned with tense usage)
Since I can understand the English dialogue without much difficulty, there’s no reason not to enjoy the films in the way the film-makers intended.
I'm not sure whether I should use "intended" or "...
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Why is past simple used in this sentence when it happened before?
Philippe Siegfried called me one day in February to announce that he
had unpublished titles of his group PANORAMAS. It was Emmanuelle
Jean-Luc Taccard's wife (LUCAS TROUBLE, TANGO LÜGER ...) who
...
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Confusing Usage of Perfect Tenses
Actually, as you may guess, I'm not a native English speaker, in fact it's third language that I've leaned. Persian and Azari Turkish are my mother tongues. By the way, I have to get an IELTS cert and ...
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There are two different times so isn't it necessary to use past perfect instead of past simple with 'use'
Capital expenditure of their company in the year 2001 was clearly below the spending in the year 2000 when they used about half the investments for the concept conversion.
There are two years 2000 ...
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I had done when you had come by the evening
We have "A" and B moments in the past. "A" happened first, "B" happened second. "A" should be in Perfect. Example:
I had done when you came
I had done - "A"
When you came - "B"
"A" happened before ...
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We swam in the same pool we saw / had seen in the photos
Which is the correct form and why?
On safari we swam in the same pool we saw in the photos on the website.
On safari we swam in the same pool we had seen in the photos on the website.
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Tenses past ind. Past perfect
Which one us correct?
Jane studied the lawyer's face carefully before she answered him.
Jane had studied the lawyer's face carefully before she answered him.
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Who had always wanted to do it
We have such a sentence:
I found some people who always wanted to walk in the forests.
Is it correct? I mean the second part has to be in Past Simple or Past Perfect like:
I found some people ...
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Past Simple or Past Perfect in the context of something having been done by the exact time yesterday
Here goes a sentence:
Alice said that she had translated three articles by five o’clock
yesterday.
My question is as follows:
If what Alice exactly said was "I had translated three articles by ...
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The difference between past tense and had pp?
Less well known at the time was the fact that Freud had found out, almost by accident, how helpful his pet dog Jofi was to his patients. He had become a doglover in later life when Jofi was given to ...
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How is "had been" used in English sentences? [duplicate]
In writing a paragraph, how can we use "had been" sometimes, but on other occasions we can use "was" rather than "had been"? So, how do I decide which to use?
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What is difference past simple and past perfect in this sentence?
I (non-native English speaker) have sometimes been confused about when to use past simple and when to use past perfect.
President Donald Trump has vetoed a measure from Congress that revoked his ...
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The order of actions (in the example sentence)
I talked to her before she had arrived.
Could you make the order of actions clear in this sentence?
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was forced vs had been forced
Going through customs to leave a country can sometimes be very
frustrating. First she was asked why she was not rolling her carryon.
The handle got stuck when she got off the car so she had been ...
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Why is this grammatically correct? - "I would like to cancel the job that I had ordered"
As the title states, would you mind teaching me why this sentence is grammatically correct?
"I would like to cancel the job that I had ordered"
The reason I ask is that the below sentence doesn't ...
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Difference had wanted and wanted
Should I use wanted or had wanted here?
a) I was not sure if She had wanted to marry me.
b) I was not sure if She wanted to marry me.
Or.
a) She had wanted to marry me but I refused the proposal.
...
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Is the past perfect necessary when one action clearly precedes another?
When I describe two actions in the past, one of which precedes the other, when is the Past Perfect more preferable than the Past Simple?
Jenny put on a mask after I put on goggles.
Jenny put ...
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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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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.
Swami