Could you proofread my essay please? - Programmes you have watched last night.

Question

The programme I had watched lastnight was Eastenders. This was one of my favourite TV programme. I can't move myself away from the coach everytime when it comes. My favourite character is Kat Slater because she's adorable. The most thrilling moment was when people shouting and hollering and begining to fight.

Clive · Accepted Answer

You have several errors,but let's first focus on this sentence.

The programme I had watched last night was EastEnders.

Why did you use Past Perfect here?

Clive · Answer

To match the question, you would say "The programme I have watched last night was EastEnders".

But actually, the tense in the question itself is not correct.

Let's look at Past Perfect.

When do we use it?

Broadly speaking, we use Past Perfect to show that an event happened before some other event in the past or before some point in the past.

eg Tom came home at 6pm. Mary cooked dinner. A native speaker will take this to mean she cooked diner after 6pm

eg Tom came home at 6pm. Mary had cooked dinner. This means she cooked dinner before 6pm.

But here's a very important point. Native speakers usually use Simple Past instead of Past Perfect if the sequence of events is obvious.

eg After Tom came home, Mary cooked dinner.

eg Before Tom came home, Mary cooked dinner.

eg We buried Fred yesterday. He died last week.

Now let's consider your text.

Don't say The programme I had watched last night was Eastenders.

Just say The programme I ~~had~~ watched last night was Eastenders.

There is no reason to use Past Perfect. You are just talking about a simple event in the past, not an event that happened before some other event in the past or before some point in the past

Do you have any questions about this?

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

mosjaThe most thrilling moment was when people shouting

You need were before the last word.

mosja~~and hollering~~ and begining to fight.

The first words are superfluous. The second one is used colloquially in American English.

CalifJim · Answer

mosjaThe programme I had watched lastnight was Eastenders. This was one of my favourite TV programme. I can't move myself away from the coach everytime when it comes. My favourite character is Kat Slater because she's adorable. The most thrilling moment was when people shouting and hollering and begining to fight.

For comparison:

The programme I watched last night was EastEnders. It's one of my favourite TV programmes. I can't get myself off the couch when it's on. My favourite character is Kat Slater. She's adorable. The most thrilling moment was when people started shouting and began to fight.

CJ

Could you proofread my essay please? - Programmes you have watched last night.

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