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Tanner92 Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
before - past simple/past perfect
Hello all!
I´ve got a problem which can be solved by native speakers only. My teacher feels what´s the better option but can not give me any sort of rule to understand this phenomenon
My teacher says that it is perfectly OK to say "Before I met him he contacted/had contacted the company." - both tenses are ok. On the other hand , in her opinion, it would be a mistake to say e.g. " Before he realized he was alone he drove a car for 8 hours." ? She would use " had been driving" only.
What leads her to make a difference between these two identical structures with before? I thought I could use past simple/past perfect interchangeably when there is "before" in the sentence.
Thank you very much!
I´ve got a problem which can be solved by native speakers only. My teacher feels what´s the better option but can not give me any sort of rule to understand this phenomenon
My teacher says that it is perfectly OK to say "Before I met him he contacted/had contacted the company." - both tenses are ok. On the other hand , in her opinion, it would be a mistake to say e.g. " Before he realized he was alone he drove a car for 8 hours." ? She would use " had been driving" only.
What leads her to make a difference between these two identical structures with before? I thought I could use past simple/past perfect interchangeably when there is "before" in the sentence.
Thank you very much!
Top answer
Tanner92 What leads her to make a difference between these two identical structures with before? It's puzzling. However, contacting a company is an action, not an activity; and driving a car is an activity, not an action.
- Tanner92 What leads her to make a difference between these two identical structures with before?
- It's puzzling.
- However, contacting a company is an action, not an activity; and driving a car is an activity, not an action.
- That's probably why your teacher prefers the non-continuous in one case (an action) and the continuous in the other (an activity).
- CJ
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3 Answers
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Tanner92What leads her to make a difference between these two identical structures with before?It's puzzling. However, contacting a company is an action, not an activity; and driving a car is an activity, not an action. That's probably why your teacher prefers the non-continuous in one case (an action) and the continuous in the other (an activity).
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Hah!
So it might well be only about personal preference which tense is better to use?
So it might well be only about personal preference which tense is better to use?
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Tanner92Hah!So it might well be only about personal preference which tense is better to use?I believe so.
CJ
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