Tenses !!! Pls help me to understand them :P

Question

1. under what conditions, we can just use a simple past tense instead of a past perfect?

2. what's the difference between, " the meeting is cancelled" and " the meeting has been cancelled" ? In which situation, people usually say" the meeting is cancelled" instead of " the meeting has been cancelled." ?

3. " He told me that he was a student yesterday" / " He told me that he is a student yesterday" Which is correct? Because if he was a student yesterday, most likely he is still a student today, so which tense should i use in this hearsay?

Pleeease help me to understand the aboves....

thanks a lot,

Sarah

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

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1. under what conditions, we can just use a simple past tense instead of a past perfect?-- Almost any time. Save past perfect for those rare occasions when the order of past events is unclear without it.

2. what's the difference between, " the meeting is cancelled" and " the meeting has been cancelled" ? -- The meanings are the same; in the first, 'cancelled' is an adjective, not a verb.
In which situation, people usually say" the meeting is cancelled" instead of " the meeting has been cancelled."?-- People are liable to say either. The first states the condition of the meeting; the second indicates a recent development.

3. " He told me that he was a student yesterday" / " He told me that he is a student yesterday" Which is correct? -- Neither is good because they are ambiguous. Restructure to 'He told me yesterday that he is/was a student.' These are both Ok, but you are still left with a statement that will require further discussion if context allows any misunderstanding.

Avangi · Answer

Hi, Sarah,
Hopefully you'll get better replies than mine on this.
1. Sorry I didn't show up. I received an email saying the meeting had been canceled. "Didn't show up" and "received" are simple past. "Had been canceled" is prior to the simple past referernce point. Use past perfect when you wish to make clear that one past event preceded the other.

2. You've added a layer of complexity because you're using passive voice.
(active present) I cancel this meeting.
(passive present) This meeting is canceled.
(active present perfect) I have canceled this meeting.
(passive present perfect) This meeting has been canceled.
(active past) I canceled this meeting yesterday.
(passive past) This meeting was canceled yesterday.
(active past perfect) I had canceled this meeting yesterday.
(passive past perfect) This meeting had been canceled yesterday.

Also, "to cancel" is tricky because the action, to cancel, takes place at one point in time, but the condition of the meeting as canceled continues on.
So if somebody walks into the meeting room, and says, "This meeting is canceled," she may mean she's canceling it at this very instant, or she may mean to be describing the status of the meeting, using a "being verb" and the past participle as an adjective. It's like saying "This meeting is done." ("This meeting is over.") "This meeting is cancelled."
What kind of a meeting is it? It's a cancelled meeting.
Passive present perfect is less confusing. The "action" has been completed. Of course, once someone says, "This meeting is cancelled," the action has been completed, even though it's simple present tense.

3. The key here is to ask yourself if it's reasonable to assume that the condition continues.

Yesterday, he told me that he was a student here. (This version is always correct.)
Yesterday (or last year), he told me that he is a student here. (This version is correct when it's reasonable to assume he's still a student here, at the time the sentence is written or uttered.)

Either is correct, unless there's a statement that he is no longer a student here.

"He told me that he is a student yesterday," is correct, but very confusing (ambiguous).
"Yesterday he told me that he is a student here," eliminates the confusion.

Best regards, - A.

Edit. Please pardon the double-l's. In the true spirit of internationalism, I've used some BrE and some AmE spellings.

Tenses !!! Pls help me to understand them :P

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