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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
"Since" in the subordinate clause with past perfect in main
Hi. Please help. What is the difference? Thank you in advance.
She had helped him since he asked to look after his sister.
She had helped him since he had asked to look after his sister.
She had helped him since he asked to look after his sister.
She had helped him since he had asked to look after his sister.
Top answer
Anonymous She had helped him since he asked to look after his sister. She had helped him since he had asked to look after his sister. Hi, To be honest, neither is natural to me.
- Anonymous She had helped him since he asked to look after his sister.
- She had helped him since he had asked to look after his sister.
- Hi, To be honest, neither is natural to me.
- If you wanted to mean that she helped him by looking after his sister , then there should have been her after asked .
- I believe that it will be better to say: She helped him since he asked / had asked her to look after his sister.
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5 Answers
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AnonymousShe had helped him since he asked to look after his sister.Hi,
She had helped him since he had asked to look after his sister.
To be honest, neither is natural to me. If you wanted to mean that she helped him by looking after his sister, then there should have been
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Hi. Thank you. I think you might be able to help me better if I make this clear. I think my example sentences were good ones. In fact, I think they were misleading in that the word "since" seem to act as the conjunction "because," and that wasn't what I wanted it to mean.
Now, what I am confused about is the difference between the following two sentence patterns, with the word "since" act
Now, what I am confused about is the difference between the following two sentence patterns, with the word "since" act
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Hi,
In my opinion, the past perfect tense describes an event that happened before another completed event in the past. It tells us which event happened first in a sentence or conversation.
He left home before she helped. So, She had helped him since he had left home isn't familiar to me. But I think people can use it, for a reported speech, for example:
In my opinion, the past perfect tense describes an event that happened before another completed event in the past. It tells us which event happened first in a sentence or conversation.
He left home before she helped. So, She had helped him since he had left home isn't familiar to me. But I think people can use it, for a reported speech, for example:
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Anonymous.1. ("since" + past tense): She had helped him since he left home.2. ("since" + past perfect tense): She had helped him since he had left home.If you have good reason for the past perfect in 'She had helped him' (and that is not clear from this single sentence), then the past perfect 'since he had left home' is natural and correct.
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