Past perfect after until

Question

Hi,Could you help me with the explaining why we use the Past Perfect after until and not the simple past in such sentences as:'The flowers didn't grow until the gardener had watered them.'And one more thing please:Can the Past Perfect be used before until and the past simple after it in the same sentence?i.e:'The flowers had not grown until the gardener watered them.'Lots of thanks

Philip · Accepted Answer

With reference words such as until and before, where there is little or not doubt as to which action happened first, the simple past is fine.

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymouswhy we use the Past Perfect after until and not the simple past in such sentences as:

Not the simple past? No. That's not right. You can use the simple past.

All four combinations are possible and grammatically correct.

The flowers didn't grow until the gardener watered them.
The flowers didn't grow until the gardener had watered them.
The flowers hadn't grown until the gardener watered them.
The flowers hadn't grown until the gardener had watered them.

But it is less usual to use the past perfect, so the first in this list is probably the most commonly used, and it would be quite unusual, I think, to hear the last in the list.

CJ

Neddy · Answer

As I know,The Past Perfect Tense is used before some other action in the past,which means the correct sentence is: The flowers had not grown until the gardener watered them; because we have one action which shows us that one is occured before or after another action in the past. That is my opinion.

CalifJim · Answer

NeddyThe Past Perfect Tense is used before some other action in the past

But I think all bets are off when you're dealing with non-actions: The flowers did not grow. So the watering came first, then the growing. So by that logic, it should be:

The flowers did not grow until the gardener had watered them.

CJ

Past perfect after until

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