Now he started to

Question

-Now John started to learn Italian, he would find a lot of difficulties.

If this sentence is not part of a story talking about the past using the past tenses, is it correct to use the simple past? I think 'now' requires 'has started', and 'started' is simply wrong, but American English uses the simple past more frequently than UK English, which has become a perennial problem to me.

Philip · Accepted Answer

Referring to the present: Now that John has started to learn Italian, he will find... ~~~ Referring to the past: Now that John had started to learn Italian, he would find...

CalifJim · Answer

OttoJNow John started to learn Italian, he would find a lot of difficulties.

This is rather old-fashioned. I imagine you mean it in the sense of "Now that John started ...".

OttoJIf this sentence is not part of a story talking about the past using the past tenses, is it correct to use the simple past?

I'm not grasping the importance of the condition, but it's correct to use the simple past.

OttoJI think 'now' requires 'has started', and 'started' is simply wrong

I see. Well, I have to disagree, especially if we take "now" in its modern incarnation "now that". Of course, if you prefer "had started", that would also work.

OttoJAmerican English uses the simple past more frequently than UK English

That may be, but I don't think that's relevant in the given example.

CJ

OttoJ · Answer

CalifJimI see. Well, I have to disagree, especially if we take "now" in its modern incarnation "now that". Of course, if you prefer "had started", that would also work.

The reason I said the sentence is not part of a story is that, in a story, when the author puts himself into the story and uses 'now', the simple past is common:

-You can imagine with what eagerness I listened to him, Watson, for the very chance for which I had been panting during all those months of inaction seemed to have come within my reach. In my inmost heart I believed that I could succeed where others failed, and now I had the opportunity to test myself.

But my sentence is not part of a story. It is simply talking about a person who has started to learn Italian, something from the past up to the present, which requires the present perfect supposedly; after my explanation, do you think started, has started, and had started are all correct in talking about the exact same situation?

CalifJim · Answer

OttoJafter my explanation, do you think started, has started, and had started are all correct in talking about the exact same situation?

My answer is the same.

Now that John [started / had started] ..., he would find ....

has started and would find do not go together in that sentence.

CJ

OttoJ · Answer

CalifJimhas started and would find do not go together in that sentence.

Is there any special reason for forbidding the present perfect has started here? If would were used here, I'd think it was part of a conditional sentence:

-Now that John has started to... he would find difficulties if he continued to learn it.

Is there something I am missing? I think my question has gone into some uncharted realm.

Fivejedjon · Answer

OttoJI think my question has gone into some uncharted realm.

It's 'uncharted' only in the sense that there are things we are most unlikely to say.

With "Now that John has started ...". we expect some real idea to follow, not an unlikely/counterfactual situation. This would be less unlikely: "John has started .., but he would find difficulties if he continued ... ".

CalifJim · Answer

OttoJIf would were used here, I'd think it was part of a conditional sentence:

It won't sound that way to a native speaker.

has ... will OR had ... would are the combinations that sound natural whether you add an if-clause or not.

CJ

Now he started to

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