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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Adverbial Phrase: Simple Past vs. Past Perfect
Hello,
A. He had served his people as president since 2005 until last year.
B. He served his people as president since 2005 until last year.
1. I think A with the past perfect is better, but is sentence B with the simple past also acceptable?
2. Is there a changed in meaning in sentence B from A?
3. If I omit the adverbial phrase 'since 2005 until last year' in sentence A, is 'had served' still OK?
Another example:
C. I had never seen him before I moved to Canada.
D. I never saw him before I moved to Canada.
4. Again, is sentence D with the simple past also acceptable?
5. Can we use 'never' or 'ever' with the simple past?
Thank you in advance.
A. He had served his people as president since 2005 until last year.
B. He served his people as president since 2005 until last year.
1. I think A with the past perfect is better, but is sentence B with the simple past also acceptable?
2. Is there a changed in meaning in sentence B from A?
3. If I omit the adverbial phrase 'since 2005 until last year' in sentence A, is 'had served' still OK?
Another example:
C. I had never seen him before I moved to Canada.
D. I never saw him before I moved to Canada.
4. Again, is sentence D with the simple past also acceptable?
5. Can we use 'never' or 'ever' with the simple past?
Thank you in advance.
Top answer
Neither sentence is well formed. Use these: A. ( X ) He had served his people as president from 2005 until last year.
- Neither sentence is well formed.
- Use these: A.
- ( X ) He had served his people as president from 2005 until last year.
- B.
- He served his people as president from 2005 until last year.
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25 Answers
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Neither sentence is well formed. Use these:
A. (X) He had served his people as president from 2005 until last year.
B. He served his people as president from 2005 until last year.
1. I think A with the past perfect is better, but is sentence B with the simple past also acceptable?-- Unless he is dead and the text mentions that or another pas
A. (X) He had served his people as president from 2005 until last year.
B. He served his people as president from 2005 until last year.
1. I think A with the past perfect is better, but is sentence B with the simple past also acceptable?-- Unless he is dead and the text mentions that or another pas
00
Thanks a lot for your explanation.
Just a few additional questions below...
He was elected as president in 2005. Since then, the government had not encounter a similar graft and corruption problem again.
If the listener knows that the president you are talking about was the incumbent only until 2009, is it OK to use the past perfect tense?
By the way
Just a few additional questions below...
He was elected as president in 2005. Since then, the government had not encounter a similar graft and corruption problem again.
If the listener knows that the president you are talking about was the incumbent only until 2009, is it OK to use the past perfect tense?
By the way
00
Sorry, I forgot to add this questions.
In your reply to #1 with sentence A, can't we consider the 'last year' as another past reference point?
If not, just for an example, could you add something to the sentence as another past reference point to make the past perfect possible?
In your reply to #1 with sentence A, can't we consider the 'last year' as another past reference point?
If not, just for an example, could you add something to the sentence as another past reference point to make the past perfect possible?
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He was elected president in 2005. Since then, the government has not encountered a similar graft and corruption problem.
If the listener knows that the president you are talking about was the incumbent only until 2009, is it OK to use the past perfect tense?-- You are confusing past perfect and present perfect.
By the way, can 'since' be used with the past
If the listener knows that the president you are talking about was the incumbent only until 2009, is it OK to use the past perfect tense?-- You are confusing past perfect and present perfect.
By the way, can 'since' be used with the past
00
Again, thank you Mister Micawber for your answers to my questions.
Just one last question and I hope all will be clear to me after this.
He was elected president in 2005. Since then, the government had not encountered a similar graft and corruption problem until/before the new president was elected.
Is the past perfect correct with the add
Just one last question and I hope all will be clear to me after this.
He was elected president in 2005. Since then, the government had not encountered a similar graft and corruption problem until/before the new president was elected.
Is the past perfect correct with the add
00
'Until' means that the problem was encountered when or after the new president was elected; 'before' means that the problem was encountered when or before the new president was elected. So 'until' requires simple past and 'before' (since it makes the order of events clear) does not require past perfect.
But in any case, it is not a matter of what the listener knows-- it is
But in any case, it is not a matter of what the listener knows-- it is
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Mister Micawber'Until' means that the problem was encountered when or after the new president was elected; 'before' means that the problem was encountered when or before the new president was elected. So 'until' requires simple past and 'before' (since it makes the order of events clear) does not require past perfect.If I've understood your explanation corre
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This discussion is getting messy, and I'm not sure that I can sort out the until/before problem to either of our satisfactions. First, though, we still have to work on those sentences: 'since' in its usual use brings the action up to the present, so I think we must eliminate it entirely-- but I now think I didn't understand them before. Is 'he' the new president or the old president?!
00
I'm actually referring to the old president with 'he'. I'm sorry for the confusion, but if I may continue to ask with both possibilities with 'he'. If you would, please comment on each paragraph of my interpretation based on our exchange. I just wanted to try get the right idea. However, if I still didn't get it, I would agree on starting all over again with a new set of sentences. Thank you
00
Whoa! You're going to have to fix that before I even try to read it. All that code is impossible!
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