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Guzhao67 Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
the ambiguity of "i'd been speaking to her at 4 O'clock.
Hi: could you explain why the following sentence is ambiguous?
"I had been speaking to her at 4 O'olock".
thank you
"I had been speaking to her at 4 O'olock".
thank you
Top answer
The past perfect (continuous) is used to describe an action that happened before another expressed past action. I had been talking with Mary since 4:00 when Jack called at 4:30. She had been living in London with her aunt until the aunt kicked her out.
- The past perfect (continuous) is used to describe an action that happened before another expressed past action.
- I had been talking with Mary since 4:00 when Jack called at 4:30.
- She had been living in London with her aunt until the aunt kicked her out.
- I saw "Titanic" last night; I had seen it when I was a child, but had forgotten most everything about it.
- The sentence in question is more than ambiguous: it just doesn't make sense.
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5 Answers
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The past perfect (continuous) is used to describe an action that happened before another expressed past action.
I had been talking with Mary since 4:00 when Jack called at 4:30.
She had been living in London with her aunt until the aunt kicked her out.
I saw "Titanic" last night; I had seen it when I was a child, but had forgotten most everything about it.
The sent
I had been talking with Mary since 4:00 when Jack called at 4:30.
She had been living in London with her aunt until the aunt kicked her out.
I saw "Titanic" last night; I had seen it when I was a child, but had forgotten most everything about it.
The sent
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guzhao67why the following sentence is ambiguous"ambiguous" means having more than one meaning, of course. I can't imagine more than one meaning for this sentence, so no, I can't explain why it's ambiguous because I don't see the ambiguity!
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the sentence was taken from a grammar book dealing with past perfect. I thought past perfect was only used to indicate earlier state or event in relation to present perfect, but i now see, thanks to the examples given by Philip, i have ignored that it can also be used to indicate earlier event in relation to simple past. thank you.
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Yes. The past perfect is the backshift of the simple past and also the backshift of the present perfect. 
"I have traveled
"I have traveled
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