0
Hotmale Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Past Simple/Past Perfect
Hello,
I've got a question concerning Past Perfect and Past Simple.
"Paula won the lottery last week. She went to the casino many times but she had never won the lottery before.
Could you, please, tell me why in this sentence "went" is used and not "had been"? Obviously, she went to the casino many times before she won the loterry.
Thank you
I've got a question concerning Past Perfect and Past Simple.
"Paula won the lottery last week. She went to the casino many times but she had never won the lottery before.
Could you, please, tell me why in this sentence "went" is used and not "had been"? Obviously, she went to the casino many times before she won the loterry.
Thank you
Top answer
Hi, We are often pretty casual about the use of Past Perfect. What I mean is that people don't usually think deeply and carefully about whether to use it. If I had to guess, I'd say the writer didn't think much about the casino information, but instead was focused on stressing the information about Paula not winning the lottery before.
- Hi, We are often pretty casual about the use of Past Perfect.
- What I mean is that people don't usually think deeply and carefully about whether to use it.
- If I had to guess, I'd say the writer didn't think much about the casino information, but instead was focused on stressing the information about Paula not winning the lottery before.
- Clive
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
6 Answers
0
Hi,
We are often pretty casual about the use of Past Perfect. What I mean is that people don't usually think deeply and carefully about whether to use it.
If I had to guess, I'd say the writer didn't think much about the casino information, but instead was focused on stressing the info
We are often pretty casual about the use of Past Perfect. What I mean is that people don't usually think deeply and carefully about whether to use it.
If I had to guess, I'd say the writer didn't think much about the casino information, but instead was focused on stressing the info
00
Thank you, Clive.
Could you also tell me whether this sentence makes sense?
Paula won the lottery last week. She had been to the casino many times but she had never won the lottery before.
Could you also tell me whether this sentence makes sense?
Paula won the lottery last week. She had been to the casino many times but she had never won the lottery before.
00
0
0
Hi.
I would like to chime in this conversation.
When the author uses past simple in that context, he wants to state a habit that Paula had.
So "she went to the Casino many times" implies that she went to the casino for a long time in the past, both after and before wining the lotery.
One of the usuage of past simple is to describe a habit in the past.
Ex. She rode her b
I would like to chime in this conversation.
When the author uses past simple in that context, he wants to state a habit that Paula had.
So "she went to the Casino many times" implies that she went to the casino for a long time in the past, both after and before wining the lotery.
One of the usuage of past simple is to describe a habit in the past.
Ex. She rode her b
00
Of course it helps. I didn't look at this sentence in this way. Thank for for telling me this 
0
Related Questions