please clarify....

I am not an expert, but I think if you say:

"I have never seen...before " - it means "before now"

"I had never seen.... before" - , it means "before then"

"have never seen" is correct, cuz you still haven't seen it. right?

if you choose to use "had never seen", now, you have seen it.

But I went to Goldcoast "Last Friday". If I use "Last Friday" as my reference, should it be past perfect tense??

I guess that, when the person says "I have never seen ... before", s/he still sees that wonderful white sand as if it were in front of her/him. The person could then go on and describe the sand, in the present tense.

Well, I guess I can understand why "I have never seen..." is okay. But how about "I had never seen..." Is that acceptable here?

My answer is YES. "Had" would be preferable if you want to be a scientist.

paco

Paco2004
My answer is YES. "Had" would be preferable if you want to be a scientist.

paco

Ha Ha, honestly, I do have a science background. I have a degree in chemistry ......

But seriously, if I give you a blank below, what will you all really fill in??

Dear Amy, I am having a great time in Australi

I'll choose "had" no matter what your textbook says. It's more grammatical than "have".

paco

I think this is an interesting question. Technically, I suppose "had" is more correct because you are saying "I had never seen such white sand before last Friday" (or "before then," as Trompe l'oeuil explained.) However, I think it would be possible to define "now" broadly enough that you might mean "I have never seen such white sand before this trip to Australia" --