Has never and had never

Question

When Gregory arrived at the disco,              Hania had already left/has already left. Which one is correct?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

When Gregory arrived at the disco, Hania had already left/has already left.

Which one is correct? 'Had already left', because the reference is to a time before a point in the past, not to a time before now.

Clive

Dusklight · Answer

Clivebecause the reference is to a time before a point in the past, not to a time before now.

I don't exactly understand what you mean by that. Would you mind explaining it further?

Clive · Answer

Hi again,

When Gregory arrived at the disco, Hania had already left/has already left.

Which one is correct? 'Had already left', because the reference is to a time before a point in the past, not to a time before now.

Consider this scenario. For clarity, I'll talk about just dates, not times of day.

Gregory arrived at the disco on 5/July.

The writer wrote the above sentence on 10/July.

If the writer wrote Hania has already left, the tense would make me think that Hania left sometime in the past up until 10/July. eg Maybe Hania left on 3/July, maybe on 9/July.

If the writer wrote Hania had already left, the tense would make me think Hania left sometime in the past up until 5/July. eg maybe on 3/July.

5/July is the point in the past that I spoke of in my original comment.

Best wishes, Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Dusklight When Gregory arrived at the disco, Hania had already left/has already left.
Which one is correct?

I'd use has as a singular , because if it was like children instead of Hannia it would be correct to say had , for children

Anonymous · Answer

Had already left

Has never and had never

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