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Jack112 Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
Tense Usage
I don't get which tense to use. I think all of them all correct? Which one would you use and why? What do they mean?
1. Those four days were the worst four days I had in my life. (With 'had' I'm referring to the past when it happened?)
2. Those four days were the worst four days I have in my life. (With 'have' here, I mean those 4 days are in fact the worst days of my life?)
3. Those four days were the worst four days I have had in my life. (With 'have had', I'm referring to a time in the past to now?)
4. Those four days were the worst four days I had had in my life before that accident. (Am I using past perfect correctly here? If I didn't have 'before that accident', it would be incorrect right?)
Thanks.
1. Those four days were the worst four days I had in my life. (With 'had' I'm referring to the past when it happened?)
2. Those four days were the worst four days I have in my life. (With 'have' here, I mean those 4 days are in fact the worst days of my life?)
3. Those four days were the worst four days I have had in my life. (With 'have had', I'm referring to a time in the past to now?)
4. Those four days were the worst four days I had had in my life before that accident. (Am I using past perfect correctly here? If I didn't have 'before that accident', it would be incorrect right?)
Thanks.
Top answer
By using ‘had’ here this person is saying he no longer has those four days, which is true as they are in the past. However, he is also saying that they no longer constitute part of his life, as though he were speaking from the afterlife. This statement, on it’s own, suggests the speaker’s life is over and he is looking back at something he had during that time called 'life', just as one might say: ‘I had a great time on holiday’.
- By using ‘had’ here this person is saying he no longer has those four days, which is true as they are in the past.
- However, he is also saying that they no longer constitute part of his life, as though he were speaking from the afterlife.
- This statement, on it’s own, suggests the speaker’s life is over and he is looking back at something he had during that time called 'life', just as one might say: ‘I had a great time on holiday’.
- This means the holiday is finished.
- The speaker has used the present lexical form of ‘have’ and he simply doesn’t have those four days, as they are in the past.
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3 Answers
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- By using ‘had’ here this person is saying he no longer has those four days, which is true as they are in the past. However, he is also saying that they no longer constitute part of his life, as though he were speaking from the afterlife. This statement, on it’s own, suggests the speaker’s life is over and he is looking back at something he had during that time called 'life', just as
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The speaker has used the present lexical form of ‘have’ and he simply doesn’t have those four days, as they are in the past.Jussive, what do you mean by 'lexical' form? What is lexical? I looked it up in the dictionary but I don't understand the dictionary definition in referenece to your sentence.
Thanks.
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Jack112AThe speaker has used the present lexical form of ‘have’ and he simply doesn’t have those four days, as they are in the past.Jussive, what do you mean by 'lexical' form? What is lexical? I looked it up in the dictionary but I don't understand the dictionary definition in referenece to your sentence.
Thanks.
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