Past perfect and past simple
1) A few hours ago, I found the book you gave me for Christmas.
2) Two months ago, I found the book you had given me for Christmas.
I'm no native speaker obviously, but for some reason, I'm compelled to use the past simple in the first one and the past perfect in the second one. Why is that? Is this correct? Would it be correct to use the past perfect in my first example too? I would be grateful if someone could explain this to me. Thank you kindly!
Top answer
I'd say "you gave me" in both 1) and 2), but "you had given me" is not wrong in either case. I don't have any particular explanation except that common sense tells us you can't find something that someone has given you unless they gave it to you first. That means you don't really need the past perfect to tell you that you got the book first at Christmas and then you found it later.
- I'd say "you gave me" in both 1) and 2), but "you had given me" is not wrong in either case.
- I don't have any particular explanation except that common sense tells us you can't find something that someone has given you unless they gave it to you first.
- That means you don't really need the past perfect to tell you that you got the book first at Christmas and then you found it later.
- CJ
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I'd say "you gave me" in both 1) and 2), but "you had given me" is not wrong in either case.
I don't have any particular explanation except that common sense tells us you can't find something that someone has given you unless they gave it to you first. That means you don't really need the past perfect to tell you that you got the book first at Christmas and then you found it later.
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