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Vladislav Yurchenko Posted 9 years ago
Grammar
Tenses
The abode of the race whose scions are inurned had once crowned the declivity which holds the tomb, but had long since fallen victim to the flames which sprang up from a disastreous stroke of lightning (Original)
Hello there.
I'm reading a Howard Lovecraft's story here. I have a question. Why was the past perfect tense used in this sentence? If I wrote it I would use Past Simple here and there, the sentence itself would look like "The abode of the race whose scions are inurned once crowned the declivity which holds the tomb, but has long since fallen (maybe better - long since fell) victim to the flames which (had sprung up) sprang up from a disastreous stroke of lightning"
2. Is it possible to use long since + past simple? e.g "Long since fell"?
3. Why not use sprang up in past perfect tense? The flames had sprung up and then the house fell. (As I was taught in university that the past perfect shows the action that happened before a certain one in the past simple)
Thank you, sometimes tenses confuse me.
Hello there.
I'm reading a Howard Lovecraft's story here. I have a question. Why was the past perfect tense used in this sentence? If I wrote it I would use Past Simple here and there, the sentence itself would look like "The abode of the race whose scions are inurned once crowned the declivity which holds the tomb, but has long since fallen (maybe better - long since fell) victim to the flames which (had sprung up) sprang up from a disastreous stroke of lightning"
2. Is it possible to use long since + past simple? e.g "Long since fell"?
3. Why not use sprang up in past perfect tense? The flames had sprung up and then the house fell. (As I was taught in university that the past perfect shows the action that happened before a certain one in the past simple)
Thank you, sometimes tenses confuse me.
Top answer
Lovecraft's use of language is not a good model for people learning modern English. However, it is correct, if flowery. Thing of 'long since' as 'long ago', a past time at which lightning struck and flames sprang up.
- Lovecraft's use of language is not a good model for people learning modern English.
- However, it is correct, if flowery.
- Thing of 'long since' as 'long ago', a past time at which lightning struck and flames sprang up.
- Before that moment, the abode ...
- had crowned ...
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4 Answers
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Lovecraft's use of language is not a good model for people learning modern English.
However, it is correct, if flowery. Thing of 'long since' as 'long ago', a past time at which lightning struck and flames sprang up. Before that moment, the abode ... had crowned ... , but had then fallen victim ... .
However, it is correct, if flowery. Thing of 'long since' as 'long ago', a past time at which lightning struck and flames sprang up. Before that moment, the abode ... had crowned ... , but had then fallen victim ... .
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I'm having hard times understanding how native speakers logically think.
When I'm using past perfect I always think of an action that it has to precede. Here in this example (I mean original sentence) I don't see an such action, except that where I would use had sprung up. In my opinion it can be understood way easier this way - The abode of the race whose scions are inurned once crowned the
When I'm using past perfect I always think of an action that it has to precede. Here in this example (I mean original sentence) I don't see an such action, except that where I would use had sprung up. In my opinion it can be understood way easier this way - The abode of the race whose scions are inurned once crowned the
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Vladislav Yurchenko Here in this example (I mean original sentence) I don't see an such action,I told you - it was the lightning strike.
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But the house didn't burn before the lightning stike, it burnt after, and there past perfect like says that the burning house was before the lightning strike. That's what I can't get
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