15
votes
Accepted
English's imperfect tense and its imperfection
The technical term for the default aspect expressed by the English "past tense" is perfective—it expresses an action seen from the outside, as a whole. As you say, it implies that the action is "...
- 175k
7
votes
Accepted
past perfect with 'when'
Example 1 is typical grammatical, idiomatic English.
Example 2 is awkward and doesn't really work as it stands.
It's as though something is missing, as in:
Alice walked to the door when the doorbell ...
- 25.7k
6
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Why is the Past Perfect not used here?
We use the past perfect (had left/had contracted/had stipulated) to specify that an event in the past happened before another event in the past, and yes, it would be hard to stipulate something after ...
- 40.8k
6
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When I was in Tokyo, I [saw] or [had seen] the movie three times?
When I was in Tokyo, I saw the movie three times.
"was" simple past and "saw" simple past, puts both actions at the same time
When I was in Tokyo, I had seen the movie three times.
"was" simple ...
- 66.2k
6
votes
Accepted
Past Perfect Continuous vs Past Simple
As is often the case with aspectual distinctions in English (perfect or not; continuous or not) both are possible, depending on how the speaker is choosing to present the temporal structure of the ...
- 73.7k
5
votes
Past perfect tense
(2) She had entered the room and found him laid on the floor with the box in his right hand.
You describe this as "the past perfect and the simple past", but in fact it will not be parsed this way. ...
- 175k
5
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Accepted
This is the watch that I (have/had/--) lost. -- what's the difference?
As you say, what you would ordinarily say is
This is the watch that I lost.
If you are required by the imbecility of testwriters to use a perfect, it must be a past perfect.
Because you now have ...
- 175k
5
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What is the difference between "what had been" and "what was" in this quote?
The story is narrated in the past tense. To refer to a time in Elizabeth's past, earlier than the time of her writing of the letter, the narrator uses the past perfect.
Elizabeth was determined to ...
- 121k
5
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When I was in Tokyo, I [saw] or [had seen] the movie three times?
Past Perfect is mostly used to speak about an event in the past that happened before another event in the past.
We use Past Perfect for something that started in the past and continued up to a ...
- 24.9k
4
votes
Accepted
If you came [had come] tomorrow, I might be [have been] able to help you.
The following three sentences mean different things.
If you had come tomorrow, I might have been able to help you.
This sentence is a counterfactual. It means that, because you came today instead ...
- 3,113
4
votes
using perfect tense before "before"
Because before is used it is clear that the explaining of the rules happened first, then the programme started. Because of this, past perfect is optional. In my opinion both sentences have the same ...
- 3,909
4
votes
Why "I hadn't noticed" instead of "I didn't notice"/"I haven't notice"?
While the three say the same thing about the past, they say very different things about the present.
“I hadn’t noticed” means I didn’t notice that before, but I do now.
“I haven’t noticed” means I ...
- 8,091
3
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Is the usage of tenses correct in this sentence - "two days had passed since she had last eaten or slept"
Both examples are fine (the semantic difference is simply whether the "narrative time" is in the present or the past).
But it's unnecessary to repeat the Past Perfect with she had last eaten in the ...
- 68.7k
3
votes
simple past vs past perfect
Simple past is the most appropriate tense here. This is because, in this case, you're just referring to something in the past: You sent your person. The office was closed. You don't need anything ...
- 40.8k
3
votes
Why does a sentence start with Past Perfect but continue in Past Simple?
In situations like this the choice between past and past-perfect forms depends on where you want to focus your reader's attention.
A cinematic analogy† may help: think of your time references ...
- 175k
3
votes
Accepted
Past progressive for a finished event
Technically, if you considered only that sentence, either choice would be possible (It was Friday, the first day of our skiing holiday, and my friend Jason and I had been/were skiing down the mountain ...
- 27.1k
3
votes
"He had a gun." or "He has had a gun."
They are not the same and neither is incorrect, but they have different meanings. "Had" by itself is the past tense, while "Has had" is the present perfect, meaning it began in the past and continues ...
- 689
3
votes
Should I use past perfect for these sentences?
The past simple versions of all three sentences are grammatically correct, and are very clear. They sound natural to my (American) ear. (These versions use "went".)
The past perfect versions of ...
- 24.1k
3
votes
What should I say "Had Happened" Or "happened"?
We normally use a Perfect tense when we want to:
Talk about how a verb before a time of focus on affected that time
Talk about a verb beginning before the time of focus which continued until or ...
- 1,878
3
votes
Accepted
Died or had died?
The correct one is:
Two years have passed since my cousin died.
The past-perfect tense is usually combined only with simple past or other past-perfect clauses. Combining present perfect and past ...
- 4,650
3
votes
Accepted
past verb vs has/have been when they are used?
It just depends, Alice. Usually the present perfect ("has been") is used in a general sense in the past whereas the simple past ("was") is used for a specific time in the past or less general time in ...
- 3,033
3
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"You would not have got the flu if you {ate/had eaten} more fruit." - what is the difference?
Your second sentence is a correct third conditional form as these forms are taught to English language learners.
Your first sentence has a difference in nuance that is not necessarily grammatically ...
- 4,650
3
votes
Accepted
Is the past perfect necessary when one action clearly precedes another?
When words like "after" and "before" are used in a sentence the sequence of events is clear and past perfect is optional. So either past perfect or past simple is fine. If you change "after" to " when"...
- 3,909
3
votes
Accepted
The order of actions (in the example sentence)
The talking happened before the arrival.
What might be confusing to you is the fact that the arrived is in past perfect, while the talked is in the simple past. The fact there's a past perfect in the ...
- 22.7k
3
votes
Accepted
What is difference past simple and past perfect in this sentence?
The past perfect is used for past-in-past; that is to say, things further back in time than the main time of the sentence.
Thus, the report is saying that Trump vetoed a measure - simple past. ...
- 22.7k
3
votes
What is the difference between "introduced", "had introduced" and "have introduced"?
The difference is in how the speaker (writer) is choosing to structure the temporal relationships. In many contexts, there is more than one possible choice; sometimes some of the choices are ruled out ...
- 73.7k
3
votes
Accepted
I've lost my key, but I found it just now
Neither is correct.
"I've lost" (I have lost) is the present perfect tense. It is not logically possible for you to simultaneously have lost and found your key, which makes the first example ...
- 96.2k
3
votes
Is it gramatically correct to use "had been" and "had" in a complex sentence like this?
The simple past, "...suddenly opened...", is correct.
For tenses in dialogue, we're just dealing normal speech, rather than having to adjust for the narrative simple past of the story itself....
- 48.8k
3
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“She played for a while” vs "She had played for a while"
I'm not sure it needs "explanation", because "had played" would also be reasonable. I suppose you might interpret the (probably unconscious) choice to shift from past perfect to ...
- 203k
2
votes
Accepted
Why Past Perfect in "He had persuaded himself that the festivities were barbaric, and he made up his mind that he..."?
The use of past perfect is the backshifting of the action taken before the time which the fragment is describing. It's backshifting of present perfect tense. I'll explain.
Philip was under Hayward'...
- 8,429
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