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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
Past perfect use in practice?
Hi. I am going to use some sentences to ask some questions from a book named "THE HANDY HISTORY ANSWER BOOK" by Rebecca Nelson, Editor, and published Visible Ink Press.
1. On page 235 of the said book, under the section of "Why did the Hindenburg use hydrogen to keep afloat?" there is this setence:
But helium was scarce at the time and the United States refused to sell any to Germany, which had been taken over by Adolf Hitler.
Q: Does the use of the passive past perfect "has been taken" indicate that at the time of U.S refusing, Germany was under the control of Adolf Hitler?
2. On page 128 of the said book, under the section of "What happened at Pearl Harbor?" there is this sentence:
The events of December 7 had brought America into the war, a conflict from which it would emerge as the leader of the Free World.
The preceding sentence is in past tense. What is the reason (if there is a reason) for ending this short section writing with a past perfect tense in the sentence? As to the verb "would emerge" it seems to have been used to herald a future happening, that is the emergence of the U.S. as the leader Of the Free World, and the use of the verb "would have emerged" would not send the quite the same message (if I have written it to say what I wanted to say correctly).
w REE l va a
1. On page 235 of the said book, under the section of "Why did the Hindenburg use hydrogen to keep afloat?" there is this setence:
But helium was scarce at the time and the United States refused to sell any to Germany, which had been taken over by Adolf Hitler.
Q: Does the use of the passive past perfect "has been taken" indicate that at the time of U.S refusing, Germany was under the control of Adolf Hitler?
2. On page 128 of the said book, under the section of "What happened at Pearl Harbor?" there is this sentence:
The events of December 7 had brought America into the war, a conflict from which it would emerge as the leader of the Free World.
The preceding sentence is in past tense. What is the reason (if there is a reason) for ending this short section writing with a past perfect tense in the sentence? As to the verb "would emerge" it seems to have been used to herald a future happening, that is the emergence of the U.S. as the leader Of the Free World, and the use of the verb "would have emerged" would not send the quite the same message (if I have written it to say what I wanted to say correctly).
w REE l va a
Top answer
1-- Yes 2. -- Presumably, America was brought into the war before the' preceding sentence' (which you have unfortunately not included), and the writer wishes to stress that precedence. The next verb ('would') does not necessarily have to relate to another verb in the previous clause; it is however, the 'future-in-the-past'-- all took place in the past, but the emergence was still in that past's 'future'.
- 1-- Yes 2.
- -- Presumably, America was brought into the war before the' preceding sentence' (which you have unfortunately not included), and the writer wishes to stress that precedence.
- The next verb ('would') does not necessarily have to relate to another verb in the previous clause; it is however, the 'future-in-the-past'-- all took place in the past, but the emergence was still in that past's 'future'.
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2 Answers
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1-- Yes
2. -- Presumably, America was brought into the war before the' preceding sentence' (which you have unfortunately not included), and the writer wishes to stress that precedence. The next verb ('would') does not necessarily have to relate to another verb in the previous clause; it is however, the 'future-in-the-past'-- all took place in the past, but the emergence was still in tha
2. -- Presumably, America was brought into the war before the' preceding sentence' (which you have unfortunately not included), and the writer wishes to stress that precedence. The next verb ('would') does not necessarily have to relate to another verb in the previous clause; it is however, the 'future-in-the-past'-- all took place in the past, but the emergence was still in tha
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Hi. Thank you very much for taking time to answer my questions. I forgot to put the "by" after the "publish," so it should be "published by Visible Ink Press."
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