Is it possible to change the tense in these sentence?
This is a sentence from a novel:
The box where I had stashed the poisonous plants I had been collecting.
Am I right in thinking that "I had been collecting" is used to emphasize that I had been collecting these plants for a while ?
Is it possible to say:" the poisonous plants I had collected" because it is a collection of plants that have been stashed away ?
Top answer
olive file 673 The box where I had stashed the poisonous plants I had been collecting. That is not a sentence. " It matters to anyone trying to answer your question.
- olive file 673 The box where I had stashed the poisonous plants I had been collecting.
- That is not a sentence.
- " It matters to anyone trying to answer your question.
- olive file 673 Am I right in thinking that "I had been collecting" is used to emphasize that I had been collecting these plants for a while ?
- I would not say that that verb form was used to "emphasize", but yes, that is implied.
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olive file 673The box where I had stashed the poisonous plants I had been collecting.
That is not a sentence. You posted an actual sentence elsewhere: "That is where I had stashed the poisonous plants I had been collecting." It matters to anyone trying to answer your question.
olive file 673Am I right in thinking that "I had been
0olive file 673Am I right in thinking that "I had been collecting" is used to emphasize that I had been collecting these plants for a while?
The only way you can interpret a continuous perfect tense of a dynamic verb (e.g., "collect") is as an activity, and all activities take some time ("happen for a while"). No activity is instantaneous. I can't say that
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