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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
Past perfect usage: not optional?
Hi. In Englishpage.com's Verb Tense Tutorial on Past Perfect, I saw this wording. Can you explain this in simpler terms?
If the Past Perfect is not referring to an action at a specific time, Past Perfect is not optional. Compare the examples below. Here Past Perfect is referring to a lack of experience rather than an action at a specific time. For this reason, Simple Past cannot be used.
If the Past Perfect is not referring to an action at a specific time, Past Perfect is not optional. Compare the examples below. Here Past Perfect is referring to a lack of experience rather than an action at a specific time. For this reason, Simple Past cannot be used.
Top answer
Please post the examples indicated.
- Please post the examples indicated.
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4 Answers
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Hi. These are two examples shown in Englishpage.com's Verb Tense Tutorial on Past Perfect that followed the wording presented in the first post:
Examples:
Examples:
- She never saw a bear before she moved to Alaska. Not Correct
- She had never seen a bear before she moved to Alaska. Correct
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Ah, I see. I don't agree, so I cannot explain EP's opinion in any more detail. I see nothing wrong with simple past there, and in fact I suspect that it is more common, in speech at least, than the past perfect. 'Before' makes the sequence of events clear, so there is no call for past perfect.
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Ah, I see. I don't agree, so I cannot explain EP's opinion in any more detail. I see nothing wrong with simple past there, and in fact I suspect that it is more common, in speech at least, than the past perfect. 'Before' makes the sequence of events clear, so there is no call for past perfect.
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