Not only …… my mistake, but also he pointed it out.

Question

Not only …… my mistake, but also he pointed it out.
a) he noticed
b) had he noticed
c) he had noticed
d) did he notice (Answer Key)

Source: school exam

Hi,
May I know why B (had he noticed) can not work here?

Thank you.

I asked this question in WR forum but one said B can work and one other said that B can not work. I'm confused now.
http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/not-only-%E2%80%A6%E2%80%A6-my-mistake-but-also-he-pointed-it-out.3225659/

Teechr · Accepted Answer

Look at the basic sentence here.
He noticed my mistake and he pointed it out.

You have two past actions which happened at the same time, so the past simple is the tense of choice for both.

Sb70012 · Answer

Thank you.
So, "had he noticed" doesn't work. Right?

David Hatton · Answer

I contest that it could work but isn't ideal as the suggestion is that the two events happened at the same time.  Had he noticed it in a completed action (past perfect) and later pointed it out, you could mix the tenses.  I see no reason to disagree with the original answer as it works better and is more reasonable, but your view about B being technically feasible is, to me, fair enough.

CalifJim · Answer

sb70012May I know why B (had he noticed) ~~can not~~ cannot [one word] work here?

Actually, it can work, but it would work better if the second part also had the past perfect.

Not only had he noticed my mistake, but he had also pointed it out.

Given that the exam item stem doesn't have the past perfect, it's a matter of choosing the answer that matches tenses best, and that's d).

Sometimes tests give you more than one correct answer, but they expect you to decide which correct answer is better than all the others.

CJ

Not only …… my mistake, but also he pointed it out.

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