A change in tenses with the word "before"
I have written down some sentences below, including my friends' revisions.
(1a) The things I have collected before are video games, sports cards and seashells. (my sentence)
(1b) The things I have collected before were video games, sports cards and seashells. (my friends' revision)
(2a) The things I have collected were video games, sports cards and seashells. (my sentence)
(2b) The things I have collected are video games, sports cards and seashells. (my friends' revision)
My non-native English speaking friends think the inclusion of "before" with the present perfect requires you to use "were". Such a "rule" does not apply when it is not included as in (2b).
I don't know who is correct. Please help me with this. Thank you for your time and help.
Top answer
Remember that the tense called " present perfect" can go with the present tense. The things I have collected are video games, sports cards and seashells. The things I have collected before are video games, sports cards and seashells.
- Remember that the tense called " present perfect" can go with the present tense.
- The things I have collected are video games, sports cards and seashells.
- The things I have collected before are video games, sports cards and seashells.
- If it's "have collected", it's automatically "before"; it doesn't matter whether you say "before" explicitly or not.
- Here "before" means "before now".
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Remember that the tense called "present perfect" can go with the present tense.
The things I have collected are video games, sports cards and seashells.
The things I have collected before are video games, sports cards and seashells.
If i
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