New english test.

I understand your reasoning for the answer in #3; I think that the use of the past perfect indicates that I no longer hear about her, now that I've met her.

However, if I'm still hearing about her, I think the present perfect [I've heard], or even the present continuous perfect [I've been hearing] would be correct.

Hi Philip,

That sentence(#3) is a typical example of sequence of tenses. The speaker is referring here to an event which happened before, in the past (he finally met that girl). And in addition, he'd been hearing about her before they met each other. In the other words, that event happened before they finally met. That's the reason why past perfect is the only possible option here

I had 4/5...:-)

Why do I get the feeling that both the past tense and present perfect are correct in number 4?

Hi Zerox,
You can't use there present perfect, because it's not grammatically correct. To use this tense, you'd have to say ...I've been working here for 10 years, or something like that. In present perfect, if you want to express the time duration which continues to the present time, then you have to use for + present perfect...This is fact. Sentence used in my test is ju

In that case Thomson and Martinet, the authors of 'A practical English grammar', disagree with you.

Just think about that sentence again. That sentence is about something what happened in the past and it ended in the past. He just started his job (founded a company...eg). This sentence is not about whether he's still working there or not.
I think we need native speakers here...

JCDenton Hi Philip,

That sentence(#3) is a typical example of sequence of tenses. The speaker is referring here to an event which happened before, in the past (he finally met that girl). And in addition, he'd been hearing about her before they met each other. In the other words, that event happened before they finally met. That's the reason why past perfect is th

Are you not a native English speaker?

From my results, both 3 and 4 can be "I've..." and still be correct.

#3-- I've heard-- can be said because no where in the sentence does it indicate that the person is no longer hearing "rumors" about the girl that was met. Whether or not one is listening to the rumors is irrelevant.

# 4-- I've started-- not really a big deal but w

Hi guys,

I asked about that third question two english teachers who I know and they replied, at first:"Past perfect, of course". But then: "Wait a minute, is that guy still hearing about that girl or have they ended their relationship after they met each other?" Yes, I should have added there something like this...I finally met a girl who I had heard so much about, but then, out of the