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Jack112 Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Past Perfect / Present Perfect

1. If I get the $10 back, I had only spent $20 on New Year's day. (With 'had', I'm saying New Year's day has gone away? Eg. saying it the day after New Year's day.)
2. If I get the $10 back, I have only spent $20 on New Year's day. (With 'have', I'm implying that New Year's day is not oever yet? But I wouldn't be able to use this if New Year's day was over right?)

Thanks.
  

Top answer

Jack112 1. If I get the $10 back, I would have had spent only $20 on New Year's day. (With 'had', I'm saying New Year's day has gone away?

— Danyoo

  • Jack112 1.
  • If I get the $10 back, I would have had spent only $20 on New Year's day.
  • (With 'had', I'm saying New Year's day has gone away?
  • Eg.
  • ) 2.
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6 Answers
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Jack1121. If I get the $10 back, I would have had spent only $20 on New Year's day. (With 'had', I'm saying New Year's day has gone away? Eg. saying it the day after New Year's day.)
2. If I get the $10 back, I would have spent only $20 on New Year's day. (With 'have', I'm implyin
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Nice feedback, Danyoo. A quick point. 'The reason is because' is incorrect rather it must be 'The reason is that'.
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Danyoo,
Why not try that again? "would have had spent" is a new English tense that you have just invented! Emotion: smile
CJ
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So this is not correct?

Scenario: The day after new year's.

1. If I get the $10 back for the party yesterday, I had spent only $20 on New Year's day. ( I don't understand why this is wrong? )

2. If I get the $10 back for the party yesterday, I have spent only $20 on New Year's day. (I can see why this is wrong, present perfect cannot be used here because
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1. Nothing in the context has established a past point of view. There is therefore no reason to use a past-point-of-view tense like the past perfect.
2. "on New Year's Day" is a definite point in time. Present perfect cannot be used when you mention a point in time at which the situation occurred.
3. "would have" is also a past-point-of-view tense. Only "will have spent" wi
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1. If I get the $10 back for the party yesterday, I will have spent only $20 on New Year's Day. ('will' have spent' is correct with present tense 'if' but does this sentence have the right meaning and is it correct? I can't use present perfect when New Year's is over? So how could I change the sentence to make it say what I want to say?)

Is this how to do it:

2. I only
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