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Velimir Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
past perfect or simple past in the main clause?
Hello ,
I have a question about how the past perfect tense and the simple past tense fit together in time clauses and specially as to when it is correct to use the simple past tense instead of past perfect in the main clause? Is the simple past tense used in more informal speech and past perfect more formally? Here are some examples with "until" and "before" introducing time clauses and I would like you to check it and give a brief comment as to its usage if possible:
" Before I found this site I hadn't had much experience with the english language" or
" Before i found this site I didn't have much experience with the english language"
and how about with "until" :
"I didn't have much experience with the english language until i found this site"
"I hadn't had much experience with the english language until i found this site"
Would it be correct to infer that the usage of the simple past tense as its shown above is correct only in some cases and only when the sequence of the actions in the main and the dependent sentence is obvious?
And please would you check the sentence I've found in one test and tell me why the simple past tense is incorrect in this case :
Hehadn't wanted to live in the big city until he lived in San Francisko.
why not " He didn't want .." too ?
Best regards and thanks for your help
I have a question about how the past perfect tense and the simple past tense fit together in time clauses and specially as to when it is correct to use the simple past tense instead of past perfect in the main clause? Is the simple past tense used in more informal speech and past perfect more formally? Here are some examples with "until" and "before" introducing time clauses and I would like you to check it and give a brief comment as to its usage if possible:
" Before I found this site I hadn't had much experience with the english language" or
" Before i found this site I didn't have much experience with the english language"
and how about with "until" :
"I didn't have much experience with the english language until i found this site"
"I hadn't had much experience with the english language until i found this site"
Would it be correct to infer that the usage of the simple past tense as its shown above is correct only in some cases and only when the sequence of the actions in the main and the dependent sentence is obvious?
And please would you check the sentence I've found in one test and tell me why the simple past tense is incorrect in this case :
Hehadn't wanted to live in the big city until he lived in San Francisko.
why not " He didn't want .." too ?
Best regards and thanks for your help
Top answer
It is not a matter of formality; the most that can be said is that the past perfect often occurs as a hyper-correction. Use past perfect if the order of past events is otherwise unclear, or if you wish to emphasize the priority of the earlier event; otherwise, use simple past.
- It is not a matter of formality; the most that can be said is that the past perfect often occurs as a hyper-correction.
- Use past perfect if the order of past events is otherwise unclear, or if you wish to emphasize the priority of the earlier event; otherwise, use simple past.
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2 Answers
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It is not a matter of formality; the most that can be said is that the past perfect often occurs as a hyper-correction.
Use past perfect if the order of past events is otherwise unclear, or if you wish to emphasize the priority of the earlier event; otherwise, use simple past.
.
It is not a matter of formality; the most that can be said is that the past perfect often occurs as a hyper-correction.
Use past perfect if the order of past events is otherwise unclear, or if you wish to emphasize the priority of the earlier event; otherwise, use simple past.
.
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Hello Mr.Micawber,
I understand that all the quoted sentences from my first post are acceptable ?
Thank you a lot for your really quick response Mr.Micawber.
Best regards
I understand that all the quoted sentences from my first post are acceptable ?
Thank you a lot for your really quick response Mr.Micawber.
Best regards
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