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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
past perfect OR past simple
A few months ago we received an email from Mr Escape, saying that he was a fan of our label . He had been to the first gig we put on and had thoroughly enjoyed it.
Here is my question
He had been to the first gig we put on
Why did the author use past simple ?
First , the gig was organised by creation then Mr Escape went and enjoyed it.
I understand that if the author had used past simple we could have understood that first he received this email then went to the gig, or, it is not true he went to the gig before he sent this email.Should the author have written that
He had been to the first gig we had put on and had enjoyed it
please let me know what dyou think of it
Here is my question
He had been to the first gig we put on
Why did the author use past simple ?
First , the gig was organised by creation then Mr Escape went and enjoyed it.
I understand that if the author had used past simple we could have understood that first he received this email then went to the gig, or, it is not true he went to the gig before he sent this email.Should the author have written that
He had been to the first gig we had put on and had enjoyed it
please let me know what dyou think of it
Top answer
"He had been to the first gig we had put on and had enjoyed it" seems kind of unnecessary. This is probably because the writer knows that the gig was put on independently of what Mr Escape said, so it can be mentioned in the simple past. The things that we only know from Mr Escape, namely that he went to the gig and enjoyed it, are backshifted to the past perfect as reported speech.
- "He had been to the first gig we had put on and had enjoyed it" seems kind of unnecessary.
- This is probably because the writer knows that the gig was put on independently of what Mr Escape said, so it can be mentioned in the simple past.
- The things that we only know from Mr Escape, namely that he went to the gig and enjoyed it, are backshifted to the past perfect as reported speech.
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1 Answers
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"He had been to the first gig we had put on and had enjoyed it" seems kind of unnecessary. This is probably because the writer knows that the gig was put on independently of what Mr Escape said, so it can be mentioned in the simple past. The things that we only know from Mr Escape, namely that he went to the gig and enjoyed it, are backshifted to the past perfect as reported speech.
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