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Hi teachers,The backdrop to this new pre-condition was set because the company alleged that a certain section of the workforce was purposely sabotaging the finished cars so that they fail the quality test of the company.Is this sentence correct? I don't get the exact meaning of ' the backdrop to this new pre-condition was set'.Please explainThank you

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

The backdrop to this new pre-condition was set because the company alleged that a certain section of the workforce was purposely sabotaging the finished cars so that they fail the quality test of the company.

Is this sentence correct? I don't get the exact meaning of ' the backdrop to this new pre-condition was set'.

Please explain

It's a faulty and unclear sentence. i'd say it this way.

Here is the background to this new pre-condition. The company alleged that a certain section of the workforce was purposely sabotaging the finished cars so that they would fail the quality test.

I don't know what 'a pre-condition' means in this context. It usually refers to something that must be done before something else can be done.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

hi

thank you very much clive

I also think that it's a faulty sentence and it could be rewritten as you have done.

Here is another sentence, which I think has an incorrect form of tense.

ABC had asked its workers to sign a similar bond in 1999 after a long labour strike that had crippled the company’s total production for weeks.

Shouldn't it be :

ABC asked its workers to sign a similar bond in 1999 after a long labour strike had crippled the company’s total production for weeks.

Thank you.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Without context, there is no need to say 'ABC had asked its workers', but consider that some earlier sentence in the real context may justify the Past Perfect.

You could also write it as

ABC asked its workers to sign a similar bond in 1999 after a long labour strike crippled the company’s total production for weeks.

The 'after' makes the sequence of events clear.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Hi,

I was taught that when an event occured before something in past and you are talking about that something, I should use 'had' for the earlier event and simple past for the event after it (something) .

Also, could you give me an example where writing past perfect would be justified?

Thank you so much for your time.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

I was taught that when an event occured before something in past and you are talking about that something, I should use 'had' for the earlier event and simple past for the event after it (something) .

No, that's incorrect.

It's quite normal to say

eg He was born in 1970 and he died in 1999.

eg He called Mary, and she called him back.

Also, could you give me an example where writing past perfect would be justified?

Consider these two simple examples.

eg Tom came home at 6 pm. Mary cooked dinner. This means she cooked it after 6 pm.

eg Tom came home at 6 pm. Mary had cooked dinner. This means she cooked it before 6 pm.

Where the sequence of events is clear because of words like before or after, the Past Perfect is commonly not used.

eg Mary cooked dinner before Tom came home at 6 pm.

The Past Perfect commonly is used like this.

eg Yesterday I had lunch with my old school pal, Fred. I had met him by accident last week. Anyway, we had a great lunch and we talked for hours. He told me all about his family.

Here the focus is on yesterday. The effect of the Past Perfect is to shift that focus briefly to last week, but then bring it back quckly to yesterday.

Even here, you could just say "I met him last week', but this doesn't give the same little quick and temporary shift of focus.

Now would you like to try to write a few sentences, for us to check?

Clive

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