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Palinkasocsi Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
Past perfect
Dear Friends,
I'm currently reading a book on past perfect and it says:
'The man on the right said that he had not been feeling well, but he got his muffin so he now feels better.'
And the explanation goes:
"In this sentence it is odd to say that the past perfect form "had not been" is determined relative to the reporting verb "said", since we cannot explain the other verbs "got" and "feels" in this way."
Could anyone explain this expalnation to me?
Thank you very much.
Palinkasocsi
I'm currently reading a book on past perfect and it says:
'The man on the right said that he had not been feeling well, but he got his muffin so he now feels better.'
And the explanation goes:
"In this sentence it is odd to say that the past perfect form "had not been" is determined relative to the reporting verb "said", since we cannot explain the other verbs "got" and "feels" in this way."
Could anyone explain this expalnation to me?
Thank you very much.
Palinkasocsi
Top answer
I don't believe a word of the explanation. The past perfect is fine here-- it sets the 'feeling poorly' clearly before the receipt and ingestion of the magic muffin.
- I don't believe a word of the explanation.
- The past perfect is fine here-- it sets the 'feeling poorly' clearly before the receipt and ingestion of the magic muffin.
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1 Answers
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I don't believe a word of the explanation. The past perfect is fine here-- it sets the 'feeling poorly' clearly before the receipt and ingestion of the magic muffin.
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