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Cup cake Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
Past perfect versus simple past.
Hi Everyone,
I was just reading the online news about a car that plunged over a cliff and into the ocean overnight. When I read the following sentence, I wondered about - had looked.
'When they had looked outside, they saw the fence at the end of the road had been broken and what appeared to be lights in the water.'
To my ear, I feel that it should simply start with simple past: 'When they looked outside...
To what degree can you 'over use' the past perfect?
Thanks in advance.
CC
I was just reading the online news about a car that plunged over a cliff and into the ocean overnight. When I read the following sentence, I wondered about - had looked.
'When they had looked outside, they saw the fence at the end of the road had been broken and what appeared to be lights in the water.'
To my ear, I feel that it should simply start with simple past: 'When they looked outside...
To what degree can you 'over use' the past perfect?
Thanks in advance.
CC
Top answer
Cup cake To my ear, I feel that it should simply start with simple past: 'When they looked outside... I agree.
- Cup cake To my ear, I feel that it should simply start with simple past: 'When they looked outside...
- I agree.
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8 Answers
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Cup cakeTo my ear, I feel that it should simply start with simple past: 'When they looked outside...I agree.
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Thanks AlpheccaStars.
It occurred to me after I posted that the most recent event in the hierarchy list should be the simple past, in which case it's obvious in the sentence.
Many thanks.
It occurred to me after I posted that the most recent event in the hierarchy list should be the simple past, in which case it's obvious in the sentence.
Many thanks.
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Cup cake'When they had looked outside, they saw the fence at the end of the road had been broken and what appeared to be lights in the water.'The use of the past perfect only makes sense if the narrative in which this sentence is embedded has passed beyond the time when they looked outside and saw what they saw. This sentence then shows that the writer is ba
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Cup cakeThanks for yet another great explanation CJ.You're welcome. Do you think that in the online news you read, the past perfect was used for its "back-up in time" function? Or was it just a strange usage that was probably wrong?
CJ
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The sentence I used was a quote by someone who heard the accident, so it's understandable that it's not correct. Having said this, I found 2 more errors within the article; subject and verb mismatch. This tells me that the 'writer' doesn't fully know his/her grammar.
Every day I see mistakes; not sure if it's lack of grammar knowledge or time constraints. News staff, no doubt, have targe
Every day I see mistakes; not sure if it's lack of grammar knowledge or time constraints. News staff, no doubt, have targe
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Cup cakeEvery day I see mistakes; not sure if it's lack of grammar knowledge or time constraints.I think the editors have been laid off.
Also, news is dispensable.
Great novels will be read by millions for hundreds of years... no so with the local news.
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