Past perfect or simple
I was born in Australia, and lived there for 8 years before moving to Canada.
For the first 2 years of my life, I hadn't been able to/wasn't able to speak English because my parents had come from France. Can both work? I started by saying "I was born in Australia, and lived there for 8 years before moving to Canada" and then starting talking about what happened before that. Can I use "wasn't able" since I made it pretty clear what I was talking about by using "for the first 2 years of my life"?
Top answer
You might say the perfect is redundant here because the past/anterior meaning is conveyed by the expression for the first two years of my life which is clearly a period of your life prior to your moving to Canada.
- You might say the perfect is redundant here because the past/anterior meaning is conveyed by the expression for the first two years of my life which is clearly a period of your life prior to your moving to Canada.
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You might say the perfect is redundant here because the past/anterior meaning is conveyed by the expression for the first two years of my life which is clearly a period of your life prior to your moving to Canada.
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