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Cat navy 425 Posted 6 years ago
Grammar

He had done everything a day ago.

    Dear all,

    I have seen the following sentence in a spoken English teaching video. But here I can't understand why past perfect "had' is used. I know that past perfect is used as the past of past. Here in this context I feel that "He did everything a day ago" is OK. I would like to get your valuable opinion on this.

    "He had done everything a day ago."


    Thank you.

      

    Top answer

    It is impossible to tell whether the past perfect is called for without context. I can tell you it is not called for in your question. "I saw the following sentence …" is better.

    — Anonymous

    • It is impossible to tell whether the past perfect is called for without context.
    • I can tell you it is not called for in your question.
    • "I saw the following sentence …" is better.
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    2 Answers
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    It is impossible to tell whether the past perfect is called for without context. I can tell you it is not called for in your question. "I saw the following sentence …" is better.

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    cat navy 425He had done everything a day ago.

    As you say, this is strange, at least as an isolated sentence. However, it's not impossible. It depends on the context.

    With the past perfect, we'd expect

    He had done everything the day before.

    cat navy 425I feel that "He did everything a day ago" is OK.
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