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Park sang joon Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

The pas perfect tense indicating the future.

One of Amber's royal family members, the protagonist calls his unknown adversary as 'S.'
Here "they" means Amber's royal family members.
Luke is his smart, strong, and cagey friend.
The protagonist is now musing about "S."

If S got me and turned on them, they needed to know. If it were a part of something larger, they need to know. As much as I disliked the idea, I would have to tell them. ........
It wouldn't hurt, I decided, to wait until after I'd spoken with Luke.
["Trump of Doom" of The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny]
I think the main clause of the underlined clause indicates the future and therefore I speculate "had spoken" indicates the future tense.
If so, I'd like to know how "the past perfect tense" could indicate the future tense."
  

Top answer

park sang joon If so, I'd like to know how "the past perfect tense" could indicate the futu re. " The short answer is yes. Think of it as a backshift of: It will not hurt wait until after I have spoken with Luke.

— Teechr

  • park sang joon If so, I'd like to know how "the past perfect tense" could indicate the futu re.
  • " The short answer is yes.
  • Think of it as a backshift of: It will not hurt wait until after I have spoken with Luke.
  • The present perfect in the highlighted part indicates experience.
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1 Answers
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park sang joonIf so, I'd like to know how "the past perfect tense" could indicate the future. tense."
The short answer is yes.

Think of it as a backshift of: It will not hurt wait until after I have spoken with Luke.
The present perfect in the highlighted part indicates experi
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