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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

mixed tenses

Hi there,
I have a question related to tenses and timelines:

I returned last year and was surprised at how much housing had been built.

Are there two tenses in this sentence?
returned = past simple, and past perfect = surprised or had been built?
I'm not sure if and would change the tense.

Thanks in advance!
  

Top answer

"returned" and "was" are both simple past. "surprised" is an adjective in this case. "had been built" is past perfect (passive), chosen because the building of the houses happened before you returned.

— GPY

  • "returned" and "was" are both simple past.
  • "surprised" is an adjective in this case.
  • "had been built" is past perfect (passive), chosen because the building of the houses happened before you returned.
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2 Answers
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"returned" and "was" are both simple past. "surprised" is an adjective in this case.

"had been built" is past perfect (passive), chosen because the building of the houses happened before you returned.
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AnonymousI'm not sure if and would change the tense.
No, don't change the tenses. They are fine, and natural.
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