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English 1b3 Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Past perfect and present perfect sentence variations

Which are correct and why?

It seems to me that we need the past perfect when the watching happened long ago in the past, and the present perfect when we just finnished watching the film. But I don't understand how that's correct since how far in the past shouldn't have any bearing on what tense we use, I thought.

I just watched the worst film I have ever seen.

I just watched the worst film I had ever seen.

I watched the worst film I have ever seen.

I watched the worst film I had ever seen.

Thanks
  

Top answer

Both these sentences should be in the present perfect as they are still the worst film you have seen to date. If you want to use the past perfect you would be talking about a time in the past and then say it was the worst film I had ever seen. (You have seen one even worse since).

— Dave Phillips

  • Both these sentences should be in the present perfect as they are still the worst film you have seen to date.
  • If you want to use the past perfect you would be talking about a time in the past and then say it was the worst film I had ever seen.
  • (You have seen one even worse since).
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2 Answers
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Both these sentences should be in the present perfect as they are still the worst film you have seen to date. If you want to use the past perfect you would be talking about a time in the past and then say it was the worst film I had ever seen. (You have seen one even worse since).
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English 1b3how far in the past shouldn't have any bearing on what tense we use
No, it shouldn't. Typically it doesn't.

I (just) watched the worst film I have ever seen. (Not had ever seen, but see below.)

(Last month) I watched the worst film I had ever seen until then. (Also possible.)

CJ
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