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Infinity Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Simple past or past perfect?

0 Here is a situation: 02br
02br
00I had lunch with Jenny yesterday. Today she called me and said she had a wonderful time with me. 02br
02br
00Is it possible to use a past perfect tense here, as ‘she said she had had a wonderful time with me’? 02br
02br
00Another situation; 02br
00Jenny was supposed to have lunch with Tom and Steve. But when she got to the restaurant, Steve wasn’t there. Tom said Steve went back to his office because there was something came up. 02br
00Later Jenny told that to Kerry, 02br
00“When I got there, Steve had already gone back to his office.” 02br
02br
00Is it possible to use a simple past tense here? Also, is it supposed to be ‘Tome said Steve had gone back’ or ‘Tom said Steve has gone back to’? 02br
02br
00Thanks in advance. 0-
  

Top answer

0 Hello, Infinity, 02br 00In your first situation, both "had" and "had had" are possible. 02br 00In the second one, I'd use a past perfect in both cases. This is a reported speech in the past, and the action of "going back to the office" is anterior to the other one, so you need "had gone back" 0-

— Pieanne

  • 0 Hello, Infinity, 02br 00In your first situation, both "had" and "had had" are possible.
  • 02br 00In the second one, I'd use a past perfect in both cases.
  • This is a reported speech in the past, and the action of "going back to the office" is anterior to the other one, so you need "had gone back" 0-
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9 Answers
0
0 Hello, Infinity, 02br
00In your first situation, both "had" and "had had" are possible. 02br
00In the second one, I'd use a past perfect in both cases. This is a reported speech in the past, and the action of "going back to the office" is anterior to the other one, so you need "had gone back" 0-
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0 Thanks Pieanne. 02br
00Doesn’t ‘I had had a good time’ imply that their good time was completely over, that they wouldn’t have a good tome again? 02br
02br
00There is no logic behind this to back up my concept, but I just feel that way. 0-
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0 I don't think so, Infinity, and anyway THAT good time is completely over, since it's in the past... But maybe a native will have another opinion. 0-
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0I'd use past perfect in all three cases myself. I use past perfect for one of the two past events if two simple pasts (together with whatever temporally descriptive words, like 'after', are present) do not make clear which event preceded the other. 02br
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0 Thanks Mister Micawber, and again pieanne. 02br
00So likewise you'd say, 'Steve couldn't make it because there had been something came up'? 0-
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0'Steve couldn't make it because 01b00something came / had come 02b00 up', actually. 02br
02br
00I don't think that past perfect is either preferred or necessary here, as it is clear from the context that 'coming up' preceded 'making it'. 0-
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0 Thanks Msiter Micawber! 02br
00SO, on the same token, can you say this? 02br
00Tom told me that he came back from his trip to Italy three days ago. 02br
02br
00Or it's better to use past perfect, to say 'he had come back from ...'? 0-
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0It is more formal to use the past perfect in reported speech, speaking of a previous event. I would suggest you use it in essay-writing, but not worry about it in conversation, as either is acceptable, and 'came' is probably the more common. 0-
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0 Thanks Mister Micawber, 02br
00That was pretty much all I wanted to know about simple-past/past-perfect. 0-
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