Questions about Past Perfect tense
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1answer
194 views
Past vs Past Perfect
While writing a paper for my English class, I couldn't decided whether past or past perfect tense was needed. It's basically about how a guy whose house is destroyed because the government wants to ...
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1answer
355 views
“At this time yesterday, I had gone” vs. “by this time yesterday, I had gone”
At this time yesterday, I was going to work. [Past Continuous]
I am very sure that the above sentence is 100% correct. (Reference: http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastcontinuous.html.)
But I ...
1
vote
1answer
130 views
How to understand perfect tense? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How do the tenses in English correspond temporally to one another?
I have a difficult time to understand perfect tense.
I don't see the different for the following two ...
0
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4answers
708 views
“Were gone” vs. “had gone” [closed]
Whats the difference between:
She were gone to party.
She had gone to party.
Are they both ok?
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5answers
258 views
Is past perfect appropriate here?
Is this sentence correct?
We had published the OpenCCU source code at the beginning of 2002. At first we had uploaded source code on Sourceforge and immediately began receiving thanks and wishlist ...
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2answers
151 views
Past perfect sentence construction
This is an example sentence demonstrating the usage of past perfect:
I checked with the supplier and they still hadn't received the contract.
In this case the timeline rule works out as it ...
0
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2answers
184 views
“Had been engaged when they married” vs. “were married” vs. “had married”
Which of the sentences below are grammatically correct?
The couple had been engaged for five years when they married.
The couple had been engaged for five years when they were married.
The ...
0
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1answer
79 views
Using Past Perfect after an event
While reading a book, I came across some sentences that used past-perfect "after" an event had taken place. Actually, I've seen many books do this, so this must be the grammatically correct way, but ...
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1answer
1k views
When to use 'had been' + past participle of the verb
I read the sentence below in a news article:
"The couple had been engaged since the summer," her spokeswoman said in a statement.
Why was "had been engaged" used in this sentence. Is it wrong to ...
0
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1answer
355 views
Simple past or past perfect in this example
In the following examples:
When I was five years old I had a dog.
Is this a past perfect sentence? Here, I know that the 'dog' is not a verb and because we use third form of verb after 'had' so ...
0
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1answer
837 views
Simple past vs. Past perfect [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How do the tenses in English correspond temporally to one another?
What's the difference between the following two sentences?
I had finished reading the book ...
0
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2answers
106 views
Is past perfect necessary in the following
I read the following on abcnews, but couldn't convince myself to accept the past perfect form the sentence. What is the action before which the 'had mailed' part has occurred and completed? And why ...
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1answer
603 views
Using had twice [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What does “had had” mean? How does this differ from “had”?
Is this correct usage?
I had had enough food?
0
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1answer
92 views
“I been” or “I’ve been”?
In the famous song Every Breath You Take by The Police, Sting sings:
Since you've gone I been lost without a trace…
I admit that I am not some expert in English Grammar, but this "I been" ...
0
votes
1answer
260 views
“Had spent” vs. “has spent” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
where should we use has/have been and had been?
[Company] had spent previous years a few blocks away from the new location.
This sentence uses "had spent", but to ...
0
votes
2answers
423 views
Past Perfect sentences with “before”
I had seen a documentary on the Whydah before we visited it in Providence.
Sir Francis Drake had worked for the British Navy before he became a pirate.
These two sentences seem quite awkward to ...
0
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3answers
138 views
“We had entered” vs “we entered” [closed]
I am not sure whether we can use two different instances of had in the following sentence:
When we had entered the ground, the circus had already begun.
According to my understanding, it ...
0
votes
2answers
128 views
“Once the client has replaced the songs” or “Once the client had replaced the songs”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How do the tenses in English correspond temporally to one another?
Mira is wondering what is the correct way to say:
"Once the client has replaced the songs" or "Once ...
0
votes
1answer
100 views
Reported Speech Tense Choice [closed]
Which of the followings sentences would be the best choice?
The victim explained how he became addicted five years ago...
His addiction is so bad that he is unable to keep a steady ...
0
votes
0answers
17 views
Ending verbs with 'nt' in the past tense [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When do you use “learnt” and when “learned”?
It was my understanding that ending verbs with "t" / "nt" in the perfect tense was merely to accommodate irregular verbs
...
0
votes
0answers
38 views
Calling “Past Perfect” the “Past” of “Present Perfect” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How do the tenses in English correspond temporally to one another?
Can we consider the past perfect to be the past form of present perfect?
He has been a teacher for ...
-1
votes
2answers
261 views
Simple past vs. past perfect
Which is correct to use in the following example, simple past or past perfect?
We were completely in the dark after the wind blew the candle out.
We were completely in the dark after the wind ...
-1
votes
1answer
99 views
“Had decided to call” vs.“had decided that we should call”
I have a question regarding using "had decided". I'm not sure if I can use either an infinitive form of a verb or a modal verb:
We had decided to call each other when we are in danger.
We had ...
-1
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2answers
455 views
Usage of had in past tense
Being a non native speaker of English I am not sure about the usage of had. In my academics I have learned that had is only used to show that something happened prior to some event in the past ...
-1
votes
2answers
246 views
she had been working / she had worked
I'm really curious what difference do native speakers conceive in these two sentences:
(She joined our firm ten years ago.)
She had worked for the previous five years with an advertising company. ...
-1
votes
1answer
345 views
Replacing past perfect tense with past tense
For had fallen in a when-clause, can the past perfect tense be replaced with the past tense?
Easily the most boring class was History of Magic, which was the only
one taught by a ghost. ...
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1answer
408 views
Past Perfect and gerund vs. Past Perfect and Simple Past [closed]
When using the past perfect tense to say something happened before something else, is it correct to use the gerund form (as opposed to the past tense) to express the latter event? For example, is it ...
-1
votes
1answer
126 views
Simple past vs past perfect [duplicate]
Simple past and past perfect are so confusing...
Please tell me if any of the sentences below make (or makes?) sense:
1) She had already opened the package before I had the chance to tell her not ...
-1
votes
1answer
342 views
“was” vs. “had been” [closed]
At the end of "Fear is the Key," Alistair MacLean wrote
And so it had been with my red rose, before it had turned to white.
When I tried to recall that line, though, what I got was
And so it ...
-2
votes
3answers
4k views
“I met” vs “I've met” [closed]
What's the difference between the following?
I met him in the UK.
I've met him in the UK.
Does the second sentence mean that the event was happened recently?
-2
votes
2answers
1k views
When do we use “had had” and “have had”? [duplicate]
I have seen several sentences in English where some writers have written had twice in a row. I am a bit confused about when the grammar calls for using had had.
For example:
I had had my car ...
-4
votes
2answers
228 views
“His hopes had not materialized”/“have not materialized”/“have not been materialized”
Which one is preferable in following sentence?
His hopes of getting through the I.A.S. had not materialized till today's date.
His hopes of getting through the I.A.S. have not materialized ...
