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English 1b3 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Tense Shift
In the book 1984 by George Orwell, tense shifts confuse me a little at times:
“… he had snatched the piece of chocolate out of his sister’s hand and was fleeing for the door.
‘Winston, Winston!’ his mother called after him.
He stopped, but did not come back. His mother’s anxious eyes were fixed on his face.”
The past perfect tense is used at the beginning of the quote to show Orwell is speaking about something that happened before the main story, which is in past tense. Why is is that the past perfect is used just the one time and then the rest of the paragraph switches back to past tense even though the story hasn't shifted forward in time? Is it because the reader knows from the use of the past perfect at the beginning that the rest of that particular event is also in the past perfect?
“… he had snatched the piece of chocolate out of his sister’s hand and was fleeing for the door.
‘Winston, Winston!’ his mother called after him.
He stopped, but did not come back. His mother’s anxious eyes were fixed on his face.”
The past perfect tense is used at the beginning of the quote to show Orwell is speaking about something that happened before the main story, which is in past tense. Why is is that the past perfect is used just the one time and then the rest of the paragraph switches back to past tense even though the story hasn't shifted forward in time? Is it because the reader knows from the use of the past perfect at the beginning that the rest of that particular event is also in the past perfect?
Top answer
" That's all.
- " That's all.
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3 Answers
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The event "snatching chocolate" happened before the event "fleeing for the door." That's all.
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The snatching happens earlier in time than the main story - and incidentally earlier in time than the preceding sentence. That is why the past perfect is used there - I don't believe it is for the reason you gave.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
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English 1b3The snatching happens earlier in time than the main story - and incidentally earlier in time than the preceding sentence. That is why the past perfect is used there - I don't believe it is for the reason you gave.Thoughts?My thought is that I don't know why you asked the question if you re so sure you know your own answer.
My thought is al
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