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Anonymous Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

Past Perfect tense...and the rule of Before and After

0 Hello all,02br
02br
00In my English textbook, I have the following sentence:02br
02br
00He (be) a consultant before he (become) the vice-president of the company."02br
02br
00I am tempted to put "He 01i00was 02i00a consultant before he 01i00became 02i00the vice-president of the company", but in doing so, I apparently break the rules written at the Englishpage.com. Is this really the way this should be written?02br
00"He 01i00had been02i00 a consultant before he 01i00became 02i00the vice-president of the company"02br
02br
00Thanks for helping a poor chap..02br
02br
00John02br
01i02br
02br
02i00 0-
  

Top answer

com. 12br 12br 10John12br 11i 12br 12br 12i 12blockquote 10"He 01i 00was 02i 00a consultant before he 01i 00became02i 00" is enough. "He 01i 00had been02i 00 a consultant before he 01i 00became02i 00" is reduntantly too correct because we can know quite easily which event happened earlier due to the existence of the conjunction "before".

— Paco2004

  • com.
  • 12br 12br 10John12br 11i 12br 12br 12i 12blockquote 10"He 01i 00was 02i 00a consultant before he 01i 00became02i 00" is enough.
  • "He 01i 00had been02i 00 a consultant before he 01i 00became02i 00" is reduntantly too correct because we can know quite easily which event happened earlier due to the existence of the conjunction "before".
  • 02br 02br 00paco 0-
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10 Answers
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Anonymous12cite10Hello all,12br
12br
10In my English textbook, I have the following sentence:12br
12br
10He (be) a consultant before he (become) the vice-president of the company."12br
12br
10I am tempted to put he 11i10became 12i10the vice-presid
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0
0May I add a few words?02br
02br
00"He 01i00was 02i00a consultant before he 01i00became02i00" is enough - 01font00If no time window is mentioned. 02font02br
02br
01font00If a time window is mentioned in the form of "from x and to y" or "betwe
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0 00Googlily:02br
00620 people say "Someone was A for X years before s/he became B" 02br
00140 people say "Someone had been A for X years before s/he became B"02br
02br
00paco00 0-
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0 Maybe the emphasis with "had been" is on the first action or state of being. For example:02br
02br
00He had been a consultant (from 2000-2003) before he became the vice president. During that time, he helped famous celebrities like Mel Gibson, Phil Collins, etc...02br
02br
00He was a consultant (from 2000-2003) before he became vice president. Since t
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0 I think in most cases, either past perfect or simple past tense will allow casual subjects in a conversation to come across. But the difference is how clearly the detailed information is one wishing to depict then use the tense accordingly. In other words it's the level of details that determines the application. For the sentences in discussion, I am sure both past and past perfect will work,
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Dear teachers,

I also have a same question like this.

  1. Before I got to the station, the bus had already left.

  2. Before I got to the station, the bus already left.

  3. When I got to the station, the bus
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4 is not correct due to the existence of "already" .
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LcchangDear teachers,

I also have a same question like this.

  1. Before I got to the station, the bus had already left.
  2. Before I got to the station, the bus already left.
  3. When I got to the station,
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In view of RULES relating to Past Perfect: you also could try this option.

By the time I reached the station, the bus had already left.

Rules for Past Perfect: 'by' a certain time or 'before' is perfectly fine. Talking about 'Time Window', how are we to ensure compliance in the case of indirect speeches where the introductory verb is in the past?

Let us have a loo
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Anon,

I am not certain about your level of expertise and I agree with the grammar book explanations that past perfect is used to express the relationship of two past events. However, there is this untold exception that when conjunctions such as "when", "after" and "before" etc. are used in the past contexts, we can express in simple past tense.
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