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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Linking verb "was" with past perfect
Hi everyone, I have come across this glitch when expressing the past perfect.
The sentence, "I took a nap because I'd come home from work late and was tired" sounds correct to me, but i'm tempted to change the "was" to "had been" to conform with the past perfect aspect of the clause. However, "I'd come home from work and had been tired" seems a little unnatural to me...
The only explanation i can think of is that "was" here is used as a linking verb, "tired" being the complement. As the state of being tired isn't really a "completed action in the past" could this be the reason why I'm preferring to use "was" here instead of "had been"?
Any agreements or thoughts on this would be welcome, as would any concrete sources to back up or refute my hypothesis.
All best
Owen
The sentence, "I took a nap because I'd come home from work late and was tired" sounds correct to me, but i'm tempted to change the "was" to "had been" to conform with the past perfect aspect of the clause. However, "I'd come home from work and had been tired" seems a little unnatural to me...
The only explanation i can think of is that "was" here is used as a linking verb, "tired" being the complement. As the state of being tired isn't really a "completed action in the past" could this be the reason why I'm preferring to use "was" here instead of "had been"?
Any agreements or thoughts on this would be welcome, as would any concrete sources to back up or refute my hypothesis.
All best
Owen
Top answer
Your first sentence is correct. The second use of the past participle is incorrect, unless you specify something like "I had been tired out by all the mass confusion" - but that's stretching the point. You could just as easily say "was tired from/by the confusion.
- Your first sentence is correct.
- The second use of the past participle is incorrect, unless you specify something like "I had been tired out by all the mass confusion" - but that's stretching the point.
- You could just as easily say "was tired from/by the confusion.
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1 Answers
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Your first sentence is correct. The second use of the past participle is incorrect, unless you specify something like "I had been tired out by all the mass confusion" - but that's stretching the point. You could just as easily say "was tired from/by the confusion.
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