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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
Grammar Past Perfect
Could anyoune please explain to me the use of the tenses in the following sentence:
"The dull headache I'd had since I killed him had gone." (Winterson 1987, The Passion, 137)
My question is why after the word "since" the verb is in the past simple. Didn't the act of killing precede the headache and its "going"? So why use the past simple tense to describe killing and the past perfect to refer to the facts that clearly ensued after the act of killing.
Many thanks to everyone who gives her or his explanation.
"The dull headache I'd had since I killed him had gone." (Winterson 1987, The Passion, 137)
My question is why after the word "since" the verb is in the past simple. Didn't the act of killing precede the headache and its "going"? So why use the past simple tense to describe killing and the past perfect to refer to the facts that clearly ensued after the act of killing.
Many thanks to everyone who gives her or his explanation.
Top answer
'Killed' is simple past because we use simple past for past perfect in dependent clauses where the main verb is past perfect; we do not repeat it.
- 'Killed' is simple past because we use simple past for past perfect in dependent clauses where the main verb is past perfect; we do not repeat it.
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'Killed' is simple past because we use simple past for past perfect in dependent clauses where the main verb is past perfect; we do not repeat it.
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