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Perfect Stranger Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Grammar question no. 25 - tense confusion and the order of events

Dear All,

Here's the order of events. I want to make a neat sentence that would be grammatically coherent.
  1. Yesterday I bought an SD card for my camera.
  2. Then I paid for it right away.
  3. Then I was hoping the seller would dispatch it immediately after receiving the payment.
  4. He didn't.
  5. Today in the morning I found a much faster card for just a bit more money.
  6. I cancelled the order on the other card since the card hadn't been dispatched yet.
My sentence: I'm going to buy another card from another seller. This seller is too slow. He hadn't sent the card before we cancelled it.

Sth doesn't feel right here...
  

Top answer

ay, I can't edit the previous post... this is the sentence I'd like you to help me with: I'm going to buy another card from another seller. This seller is too slow.

— Perfect Stranger

  • ay, I can't edit the previous post...
  • this is the sentence I'd like you to help me with: I'm going to buy another card from another seller.
  • This seller is too slow.
  • He hadn't sent the card before we cancelled it.
  • Somehow it got merged with other sentences in my previous post.
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7 Answers
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ay, I can't edit the previous post... this is the sentence I'd like you to help me with:

I'm going to buy another card from another seller. This seller is too slow. He hadn't sent the card before we cancelled it.

Somehow it got merged with other sentences in my previous post. Sorry about that.
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Hi

The tenses look fine to me:

I'm going to ... telling a future action

This seller is too slow ... present continuous. This seller has probably been slow in the past; is slow now; and I fear they will continue to be slow

He hadn't sent... negative past perfect. Something expected in the past that didn't happen

Hope this helps

Dave
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Thanks Dave,

Is the past perfect necessary in that sentence? Would a native speaker use it as well?
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Hi

I'd say the past perfect is right if you are no longer expecting the action or the action has come to an end:

- He hadn't sent the card, so we went to another seller
- I had worked at the shop until my illness
- I had not realised he was so intelligent

If the action starts in the past but may carry on, then ...

- He hasn't sent the card yet but we're
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"Another" can be tricky. "Another card" sounds like "an additional card", when you mean "a different card". "Another seller" is good, though. The past perfect "hadn't sent" is necessary to the meaning. Even people who normally don't use the past perfect in conversation would use it there, but "before" is a little redundant with it.

I'm going to buy a different card from another sell
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enoonI'm going to buy a different card from another seller. This seller is too slow. He hadn't sent the card when we cancelled it.
Thanks guys.

Hmm... Enoon, wouldn't you say that a different card might be implying a whole different type of card?
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Perfect Stranger enoonI'm going to buy a different card from another seller. This seller is too slow. He hadn't sent the card when we cancelled it.Thanks guys.Hmm... Enoon, wouldn't you say that a different card might be implying a whole different type of card?
It is a different type of card. You can always get more specific. I'm just saying that "another" def
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