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Marix998 Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

A man ate/had eaten the last piece just before you come/came in...

Hello,

I have just watched the movie In the heat of the night (1967). I have two questions regarding grammar.

First one:

At the begining of the movie is the dialog.

- Where you keepin' the pie tonight?

/ A man ate the last piece just before you come in.

Should not be: A man had eaten the last piece just before you came in.

Second one:

The black police officer who did not killed the man says:

-May l see the man l am supposed to have killed?

Could it be said also: May I see the man I was supposed to kill?

Thanks

By the way, interesting movie

M
  

Top answer

At the begining of the movie is the dialog. - Where you keepin' the pie tonight? - A man ate the last piece just before you come in.

— MalRey

  • At the begining of the movie is the dialog.
  • - Where you keepin' the pie tonight?
  • - A man ate the last piece just before you come in.
  • S South in the mid-twentieth century and is used in the movie deliberately.
  • Shouldn't it be: A man had eaten the last piece just before you came in.
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6 Answers
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At the begining of the movie is the dialog.
- Where you keepin' the pie tonight?
- A man ate the last piece just before you come in.
This is the dialect of the U.S South in the mid-twentieth century and is used in the movie deliberately.
Shouldn't it be: A man had eaten the last piece just before you came in.
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marix998-May l see the man l am supposed to have killed?
Could it be said also: May I see the man I was supposed to kill?
No. Two different things.

the man I am supposed to have killed

=

the man that you claim I have killed

~

the man that you are supposing that I killed

____________

the
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MalReyShouldn't it be: A man had eaten the last piece just before you came in.
No. If you want to correct it to standard English then it should be "A man ate the last piece just before you came in."

Thanks for response,

Would it be correct to say: A man had eaten the last piece just before you came in.

I want to sa
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From your most recent post:
Would it be correct to say: A man had eaten the last piece just before you came in.
I want to say that he finished eating the pie before so the pie had been already eaten when he came in.
The man who had eaten the pie was no longer in the room when the dialogue started.
From your original post:
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MalReyFrom your most recent post:
Would it be correct to say: A man had eaten the last piece just before you came in.I want to say that he finished eating the pie before so the pie had been already eaten when he came in.The man who had eaten the pie was no longer in the room when the dialogue started.
From your original post:
Should not b
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marix998I am still curious whether the sentence A man had eaten the last piece just before you came in. is a "big" grammar mistake and native would right away correct me.
I doubt it. The past is often just a substitute for the past perfect in cases where both are correct, I suppose because it's shorter.

According to one 'rule', the past perfect claus
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