I hadn't seen his house but I'd heard he had an immense garden where he kept horses.

Question

Hello, everyone.Recently I have seen this sentence:- I hadn't seen his house but I'd heard he had an immense garden where he kept horses.Please help me with the following questions:1) Is this sentence grammatically correct?2) What would be the difference in meaning if I just used the Past Simple only? Of course I know the basic use of the Past Perfect, but sometimes it can be replaced with the Past Simple.- I didn't see his house but I heard he had an immense garden where he kept horses.3) Is it analogous to a present version of this sentence below?- I haven't seen his house but I've heard he has an immense garden where he keeps horses.

GPY · Accepted Answer

I haven't seen his house but I've heard he has an immense garden where he keeps horses.
"I haven't seen his house" means that you haven't seen it ever, at any time in the past. "I've heard ..." means that you heard this sometime in the past (and you retain the information now).

I hadn't seen his house but I'd heard he had an immense garden where he kept horses.
This means the same, except it is backshifted so as to be relative to a viewpoint or reference point that is already in the past. Typically this sentence might be used in a past-tense narrative. E.g. "Mr Grossgarten lived on the other side of town. I hadn't seen his house, but I'd heard ...".

I didn't see his house but I heard he had an immense garden where he kept horses.
Describes a single event in the past (e.g. a visit to the town where his house is located). However, if it is the relatively recent past, and it is reasonable to assume that he still keeps horses in the garden, you would say "has ... keeps".

I hadn't seen his house but I'd heard he had an immense garden where he kept horses.

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