I grew up/had grown up
Assume this had happened a few weeks ago.
I was walking down the street when I saw a strange looking man. He was staring daggers at me and I just froze. I grew up/had grown up in a dangerous neighborhood, so I knew how to deal with the situation....
Which tense is correct here? My intuition can't help me here. The growing up happened before all of this, so technically, if we look at the rules, I could use the past perfect, but it sounds kind of wrong.. My gut is telling me it sounds wrong because growing up has nothing to do with this story, but it's too abstract for me to comprehend. If this had happened 30 years ago, I'd actually use "had grown up" instead of "grew up", but I have no idea why.. Could someone please help me understand? Thank you..
Top answer
You're overthinking this past perfect thing. You can use either 'grew up' or 'had grown up' in your scenario. A good rule of thumb is to use the simple past when either the past or the past perfect are possible.
- You're overthinking this past perfect thing.
- You can use either 'grew up' or 'had grown up' in your scenario.
- A good rule of thumb is to use the simple past when either the past or the past perfect are possible.
- Keep in mind that the past perfect is one of the least used tenses in English.
- Your intuition won't improve until you've experienced more English.
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You're overthinking this past perfect thing.
You can use either 'grew up' or 'had grown up' in your scenario.
A good rule of thumb is to use the simple past when either the past or the past perfect are possible. Keep in mind that the past perfect is one of the least used tenses in English.
Your intuition won't improve until you've experienced more English. Huge amounts
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