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Df2006 Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

"I hadn't thought you were."

There was this dialogue in a film I was watching the other night:

Girl:“I'm sorry I behaved that way just now. You must have thought that I was stupid.”

Boy: "I hadn't thought you were."

My question is:

Why did the boy use the past perfect tense ‘hadn't thought’?

Would it be wrong to simple use either the simple past tense or the present perfect ?

“I didn't think you were.”

OR “I haven't thought you were.”

I find the past perfect sometimes a pain to teach. Any good suggestions? Many thanks.
  

Top answer

Hi welcome to the forum, Past perfect can be troublesome for learners. The sequence of events that took place in any situation is important when past perfect is used. We first must understand the time reference in which past perfect is used.

  • Hi welcome to the forum, Past perfect can be troublesome for learners.
  • The sequence of events that took place in any situation is important when past perfect is used.
  • We first must understand the time reference in which past perfect is used.
  • Based on the dialog, everything is correct.
  • For illustration purpose, I will label them with numbers to identify the sequence.
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5 Answers
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Hi welcome to the forum,

Past perfect can be troublesome for learners.

The sequence of events that took place in any situation is important when past perfect is used. We first must understand the time reference in which past perfect is used.



Based on the dialog, everything is correct. For illustration purpose, I will label them with numbers to identify the seq
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Hi,

The previous sentence is "You must have thought..." The girl is talking about an event in the past-
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Goodman, thanks heaps! Your explanations helped.
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Hi,

There was this dialogue in a film I was watching the other night:

Girl:“I'm sorry I behaved that way just now. You must have thought that I was stupid.”

Boy: "I hadn't thought you were."

My question is:

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