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Teo Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

tense sequence

0It 01font00was 02font00only a matter of time before money 01font00transformed 02font00that most intimate of private domains, love and marriage, as it 01font00has02font00 almost everything else in this booming country. (Shanghai Journal)02br
02br
00Why use the past tense here?0-
  

Top answer

02br 02br 00 In short, this part of the sentence is written from the past point of view. The writer knows what happened, that is, he knows 01u 00what was going to happen02u 00, and he tells this from the point of view of someone who was there in the past. 02br 02br 00 He is saying: 01i 00We were at a point in time where not much more time was going to pass before this happened: Money transformed ...

— CalifJim

  • 02br 02br 00 In short, this part of the sentence is written from the past point of view.
  • The writer knows what happened, that is, he knows 01u 00what was going to happen02u 00, and he tells this from the point of view of someone who was there in the past.
  • 02br 02br 00 He is saying: 01i 00We were at a point in time where not much more time was going to pass before this happened: Money transformed ...
  • love and marriage.
  • 02i 00 01i 00And,02i 00 he adds, 01i 00this is like what money has done already, namely, money has transformed almost everything else ...
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3 Answers
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0 01i00It is only a matter of time before02i00 (something happens)02br
02br
00 means02br
02br
01i00We are not going to need to wait very long before02i00 (something [will/is going to] happen).02br
02br
00 So 01i00It was only a matter of time before02i00 (something happen
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0It 01font00was 02font00only a matter of time before 01b00(that)02b00 money 01font00transformed 02font00that most intimate of private domains, love and marriage, as it 01font00has02font00 almost everything else in this booming country. (Sha
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0 To answer the question "Which money?" you can insert 01i00that02i00: "01u00That02u00 money transformed ..." (as opposed to "01u00This02u00 money ...")02br
02br
00 As a complementizer together with 01i00before02i00, no.02br
02br
00 *01i00Before that w
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