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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Simple past or past perfect

Which one of the two senteces below is correct?
He didn't come back from the meeting before I left home.
He hadn't come back from the meeting before I left home.

I aprreciate you taking time to answer my question.
  

Top answer

Are you speaking about the past from the perspective of right now? Yes, your leaving home and his coming back both have happened. Is there a past point of reference?

  • Are you speaking about the past from the perspective of right now?
  • Yes, your leaving home and his coming back both have happened.
  • Is there a past point of reference?
  • Yes, that point is that moment in the past when you left home.
  • Are you talking about an event that happened further back in the past than your past reference point?
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3 Answers
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Are you speaking about the past from the perspective of right now? Yes, your leaving home and his coming back both have happened.

Is there a past point of reference? Yes, that point is that moment in the past when you left home.

Are you talking about an event that happened further back in the past than your past reference point? Yes, we don't know exactly when he came back but
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The sentence above is what I told my boss about 5 hours after coming home from work. I used past perfect, but I wasn't quite sure if I had used the correct tense.

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