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Ant_222 Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

A little question concerning tenses

0 Hello, everybody02br
02br
00I wanted to ask: can the following sentences be correct (in some context)?02br
001. We saw John last night. He had arrived yesterday...02br
002. We saw John this morning. He had arrived yesterday...02br
02br
00I think that both are correct though #2 would be better with Past Simple instead of Past Perfect. Would like to here the opinion of a competent person.02br
02br
00Thanks in advance. 0-
  

Top answer

0 01blockquote 01cite 10Ant_22212cite 10Hello, everybody I wanted to ask: can the following sentences be correct (in some context)? 1. We saw John last night.

— Philip

  • 0 01blockquote 01cite 10Ant_22212cite 10Hello, everybody I wanted to ask: can the following sentences be correct (in some context)?
  • 1.
  • We saw John last night.
  • He had arrived yesterday...
  • 2.
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9 Answers
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Ant_22212cite10Hello, everybody I wanted to ask: can the following sentences be correct (in some context)? 1. We saw John last night. He had arrived yesterday... 2. We saw John this morning. He had arrived yesterday... I think that both are correct though #2 would be better with Past Simple instead of Past Perfect. Would like to
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0 Thanks (post helpum)! 0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Ant_22212cite10Hello, everybody I wanted to ask: can the following sentences be correct (in some context)? 1. We saw John last night. He had arrived yesterday... 2. We saw John this morning. He had arrived yesterday... I think that both are correct though #2 would be better with Past Simple instead of Past Perfect. Would like to
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01. We saw John last night. He had arrived yesterday.02br
002. We saw John last night. He arrived yesterday.02br
02br
00Is sentence 2 also correct or more appropriate than sentence 1? 0-
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0Hi,02br
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00Use Past Perfect only if the larger context requires it. #2 would be much more commonly used.02br
02br
00Best wishes, Clive0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Clive12cite10Hi,12br
12br
10Use Past Perfect only if the larger context requires it. #2 would be much more commonly used.12br
12br
10Best wishes, Clive12br
12br
12blockquote
10Hi Clive02br
02br
00Does sentence 1 have a larger context t
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0Hi,02br
02br
00Not as written, no. You'd have to try to invent some larger situation/context.02br
02br
00With a verb like 'arrive', the sequence of events tends to be pretty clear with just Simple Past.02br
02br
00Clive 0-
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0 Thanks, Clive. 0-
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0 Goodman:02br
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00«I know you probably didn't mean it that way, but does it mean others who didn't reply to your message are incompetent?»02br
02br
00Frankly speaking, it did occur to me when writing...02br
00Thanks for the remark.02br
02br
00«In my opinion, both 1 and 2 are the same sentence. The only difference is the
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