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Anonymous Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
PAST PERFECT WITH RECENT
. Even at age 18, however, it was the kind of connection that had been years in the making.
Sean had been writing songs since he was 15 and had spent recent years recording and re-recording his own songs. And Isaac had been on a strict diet of classic and obscure disco and boogie music since he too was 15, figuring out the original source of hip-hop’s greatest samples thanks to an older brother with a DJ sideline and an enviable collection. They both were after the same thing in music—the groove, they say, where the bass and the beat align in a perfect way that makes you want a song to go on forever.
Here are my questions
1)
first does it mean "Sean had been writing songs since he was 15" that he did not write songs at the time of writing or just finished
writing songs not a long time ago.
2)
Is it possible to use recent with a past perfect , seems a bit strange as recent is not a long time ago.?
3)
Wil it be possible to change the past perfect "had been writing" "had spent" "had been" because the order of events is chronological
Sean wrote songs since he was 15 Isaac liked disco music
and recorded his songs
they met, were looking after the same thing in music
Sean had been writing songs since he was 15 and had spent recent years recording and re-recording his own songs. And Isaac had been on a strict diet of classic and obscure disco and boogie music since he too was 15, figuring out the original source of hip-hop’s greatest samples thanks to an older brother with a DJ sideline and an enviable collection. They both were after the same thing in music—the groove, they say, where the bass and the beat align in a perfect way that makes you want a song to go on forever.
Here are my questions
1)
first does it mean "Sean had been writing songs since he was 15" that he did not write songs at the time of writing or just finished
writing songs not a long time ago.
2)
Is it possible to use recent with a past perfect , seems a bit strange as recent is not a long time ago.?
3)
Wil it be possible to change the past perfect "had been writing" "had spent" "had been" because the order of events is chronological
Sean wrote songs since he was 15 Isaac liked disco music
and recorded his songs
they met, were looking after the same thing in music
Top answer
Anonymous Sean had been writing songs since he was 15 It means he was writing songs before the past-time reference point of the article, namely, when Sean was 18. It doesn't say anything about whether he wrote songs after that reference time or whether he is writing songs now, but you can figure that out from the rest of the article. Anonymous Is it possible to use recent with a past perfect to indicate recent time?
- Anonymous Sean had been writing songs since he was 15 It means he was writing songs before the past-time reference point of the article, namely, when Sean was 18.
- It doesn't say anything about whether he wrote songs after that reference time or whether he is writing songs now, but you can figure that out from the rest of the article.
- Anonymous Is it possible to use recent with a past perfect to indicate recent time?
- Yes.
- The event expressed by a past perfect is before another past time.
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6 Answers
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AnonymousSean had been writing songs since he was 15It means he was writing songs before the past-time reference point of the article, namely, when Sean was 18. It doesn't say anything about whether he wrote songs after that reference time or whether he is writing songs now, but you can figure that out from the rest of the article.
Anonymous
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thank you for your answer
So my question is why did the author choose past perfect? I t was clear enough without past perfect because of this sentence "it was the kind of connection that had been years in the making. This sentence tell us readers that we are going backwards .
Do you agree with me?
So my question is why did the author choose past perfect? I t was clear enough without past perfect because of this sentence "it was the kind of connection that had been years in the making. This sentence tell us readers that we are going backwards .
Do you agree with me?
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AnonymousThis sentence tell us readers that we are going backwards .Yes. If you tell a story in the same order it occurred, you don't need the past perfect. But if you start the story and then want to talk about something that happened before the story began, you use the past perfect.
In this case the author mentioned "age 18" first. Then he wante
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But was he obliged or was it necessary to use past perfect? As in this sentence (at 18, it was the kind of connections that had been years in the making ), "he had been "let us know that we will make a flashback when Sean was younger than 18. Is that true? But may be one past perfect is not enough to make clear it is a flash back?
Thanks a lot for your answer
Thanks a lot for your answer
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AnonymousBut was he obliged or was it necessary to use past perfect?No. We've already covered this ground in my first reply where I said you could change it.
Anonymous"he had been " ... Is that true?Yes.
AnonymousBut may be one past perfect is not enough to make clear it is a flash back?
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