difference in the tense?

Question

what is the difference between those two sentences:
1.I never saw such a beautiful girl before i went to russia.
2.I had never seen such a beautiful girl before i went to russia

am i allowed to use both of them for the same meaning purpose?what is the tence difference between them?what more should i know in relation to that?

Philip · Accepted Answer

# 1 is incorrect. # 2 is correct, but remember that I is always capitalized, no matter where it appears in the sentence, as is the name of all countries.

Canadian45 · Answer

Anonymous1.I never saw such a beautiful girl before i went to russia.2.I had never seen such a beautiful girl before i went to russia

I don't agree that #1 is wrong.

Anonymous · Answer

why 1 is incorrect??

Philip · Answer

Anonymouswhy 1 is incorrect??

As you can tell from other responses, some believe it is fine. I prefer to use the past perfect to talk about a past action prior to another past action.

Grammarfreak · Answer

Philip Anonymouswhy 1 is incorrect??As you can tell from other responses, some believe it is fine. I prefer to use the past perfect to talk about a past action prior to another past action.

As commented, I kind of agree with Philip. This is how I understand it. Straight grammar said that when a context involves two past events, one of the two events must be written in "past perfect"; such as the sentence in discussion: I never saw such a beautiful girl before I went to Russia. This this the basic rule, and that I presumed was the reason Philip deemed that sentence incorrect.There are other situations where past perfect is required even only a single event is discussed, as explained in this excerpt: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/grammarlogs2/grammarlogs349.htm

At the end of the last century, Great Britain had ruled North America for twenty years.

The phrase "for twenty years" indicates a stretch of past time that ended with "the end of the last century," so there are, in fact two past times being contrasted: the fixed past time (end of the century) and the earlier 20 years. Therefore past perfect is necessary.

That aside, there is another rule which ( should I say a rule which may not be taught in school, or unknown to learners) is, when the context is constructed with a subordinate conjunction, i.e. Before, after, while, during, etc..
This link will help you understand why sometimes past perfect is not necessary even two past events are discussed.
http://www.carmenlu.com/third/grammar/timecltheory3.pdf ( Please read 2)

Canadian45 · Answer

Anonymous2.I had never seen such a beautiful girl before i went to russia

Sometimes past perfect tense is needed, but not in the above sentence. With the presence of "before", the meaning is very clear and the absence of perfect tense does not make the sentence incorrect. Some people just prefer to use perfect tense.

'He (had) lived in New York City for two years before he realized it was not the capital of New York State. (both correct)

RandomGuy · Answer

Anonymous1.I never saw such a beautiful girl before i went to russia.

For me the past perfect is just about obligatory here. I don’t see this as a case where the past tense is equally acceptable because of the presence of a word like before or after, as much as it might superficially resemble one. The preference for the perfect here is just as strong as it is in its present tense counterpart I have never seen such a beautiful girl. The only difference is that in the original sentence the lack of experience continues up to the time of your going to Russia rather than the present moment. Nevertheless, you will hear native speakers use the past tense in such contexts.

Philip · Answer

Aspara GusNevertheless, you will hear native speakers use the past tense in such contexts.

I know many educated speakers who never use the past perfect. And they end up using 'double wouldas' in conditional sentences, as well. By the way, on a related topic, a "question" on Jeopardy the other night was considered incorrect. The contestant said 'pluperfect' when the show wanted 'past perfect'. Do we not use both terms? I was certain they would come back after the commercials and accept 'past perfect' after a challenge. Perhaps the "answer" was formed in such a way that only one was acceptable (maybe it had to have the word 'past' in it).

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