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Cup cake Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

Simple past and past perfect

Hi Everyone,

I just heard the following sentence:

' Kate was late because she missed the bus.'

I would've thought you can say this.

I also know you can say, 'Kate was late because she had missed the bus.'

However, the first sentence that uses the simple past for both events makes perfect sense.

What do others think?

Thanks
CC Emotion: smile
  

Top answer

Cup cake I would've thought you could say this. Both are common.

— AlpheccaStars

  • Cup cake I would've thought you could say this.
  • Both are common.
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7 Answers
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Cup cakeI would've thought you could say this.
Both are common.
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Thank you AlpheccaStars. Emotion: toivo

I actually heard the sentence from another teacher, telling students that you couldn't use t
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Cup cake telling students that you couldn't use the simple past for both events.
If anything, it is more common, with the past perfect sounding rather stilted there.
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Cup cakeKate was late because she had missed the bus.
Too much grammatical machinery! The effect (being late) can only be after the cause (missing the bus), so the past perfect, which is used to sort out the order in which events occurred, adds nothing but unnecessary complexity.
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Yes, I totally agree.

I just wanted to know what other expert teachers thought, so thank you everyone!

Happy games weekend!
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AlpheccaStars Cup cakeI would've thought you could say this.
But "I would've thought 'you can say this'" is correct, isn't it?
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Lol...now THAT's an eye for detail. Emotion: tmi

Yes, either 'can', or 'could' - me thinks.

Good topic whilst we are at it.
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