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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

past perfect?

First, I ordered a book as I did not receive it,I thought the bookshop forgot to send it and I finally ordered another copy in another shop. But yesterday I received the first one and I would like to cancel the second order.

Here is my question

Shall I have written " I thought the bookshop had forgotten"
i did not write past perfect because we could have thought that the act of forgetting was before the order due to past perfect and both acts happened in the same time ( forgetting and thinking)
What do you think dear teacher?

Thanks to answer
  

Top answer

"had forgotten" is better. (By the time you reached that conclusion, the bookshop had already forgotten, we assume. ) There are problems with the flow of your first sentence.

— GPY

  • "had forgotten" is better.
  • (By the time you reached that conclusion, the bookshop had already forgotten, we assume.
  • ) There are problems with the flow of your first sentence.
  • "
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2 Answers
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"had forgotten" is better. (By the time you reached that conclusion, the bookshop had already forgotten, we assume. There is no danger of it being understood as meaning that the bookshop forgot about the order before you placed it, since that is obviously impossible.)

There are problems with the flow of your first sentence. You could say "I ordered a book but never received it, so I thoug
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AnonymousShall I have written " I thought the bookshop had forgotten"
It should be 'Should I have written ...?'
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