By 2000, past simple or past perfect
Hello
Could you give me some explanation about the sentence below?
-By 2000 he had visited some beautiful places.
-By 2000, he visited some beautiful places.
Sorry, I think that I have addressed you a similar question to this before, but still I am not sure whether it is OK to use "past simple" after "By 2000" or not.
Though I had been told to use" past simple", but I saw this sentence"By 1970, irrigation canals were taking nearly all the river water, and the Aral was shrinking rapidly" in a book . In this sentence past continuous has been used. Could you help me understand?
Regards
JA
Top answer
I would use past perfect as it is a completed action set in the past. By 2000 he HAD VISITED some beautiful places. In your irrigation example, the situation is slightly different as the actions of the canals were ongoing, they were not completed.
- I would use past perfect as it is a completed action set in the past.
- By 2000 he HAD VISITED some beautiful places.
- In your irrigation example, the situation is slightly different as the actions of the canals were ongoing, they were not completed.
- Although it refers to the past, it is about things which were ongoing at that time so past continuous is appropriate.
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I would use past perfect as it is a completed action set in the past.
By 2000 he HAD VISITED some beautiful places.
In your irrigation example, the situation is slightly different as the actions of the canals were ongoing, they were not completed. Although it refers to the past, it is about things which were ongoing at that time so past continuous is appropriate.
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