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Newguest Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

the tense

0Hi02br
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00Is it OK to say: What did you do in England before you came here? (is it a good tense?) Maybe it should be: What had you done in England before you came here? (it sounds pretty strange for me, but maybe it's grammatically correct)02br
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Top answer

0My two cents: 02br 02br 00Second sentence is very grammatical, I mean it is correct. 010id1

— Doll

  • 0My two cents: 02br 02br 00Second sentence is very grammatical, I mean it is correct.
  • 010id1
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25 Answers
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0My two cents: 02br
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00Second sentence is very grammatical, I mean it is correct. 05000 But you can use the first one too.010id1
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0 they could mean different things, as far as i, a non-native speaker, am concerned02br
001. what did you do ... ?  - it could be like asking what kind of job you had back in England ? 02br
002. what had you done ... ? - it could be like investigating if you did anything terrible in England and now fled here 02br
00my $0.015 050010id1
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01cite10Seraphin12cite10they could mean different things, as far as i, a non-native speaker, am concerned 12br
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101. what did you do ... ? - it could be like asking what kind of job you had back in England ? 12br
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102. what had you done ... ? - it could be like investigating if you did anything t
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0 I agree with Seraphin.02br
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00 Also, if you want to use a perfect tense to say the same, use Perfect Progressive:02br
00 "What had you been doing before you came here?" 0-
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01cite10Newguest12cite10Is it OK to say: What did you do in England before you came here?12blockquote
10Yes. Perfectly OK. Perfect, ordinary, everyday, correct English.02br
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01cite10CalifJim12cite11blockquote
11cite20Newguest22cite20Is it OK to say: What did you do in England before you came here?22blockquote
20Yes. Perfectly OK. Perfect, ordinary, everyday, correct English.12br
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10CJ 12br
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0 Even with Past Simple the sequence of events in this sentence is so clear and unambigous that there's stll no chance of misinterpreting it, so I think a native would prefer this less wordy and redundant version, and only in grammar books where there's a strong tendency to (over-)simplify compicated stuff, you will find such examples with no mention that Past Simple is also possible and even so
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01cite10Ant_22212cite10Even with Past Simple the sequence of events in this sentence is so clear and unambigous that there's stll no chance of misinterpreting it, so I think a native would prefer this less wordy and redundant version, and only in grammar books where there's a strong tendency to (over-)simplify compicated stuff, you will find su
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0Yes, the past perfect is often not needed, not mandatory, when it is used to refer to the past and it's not part of a conditional structure. Of course there are cases where it should be used to avoid ambiguity or put more stress on a certain event. 050010id1
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01cite10Kooyeen12cite10Yes, the past perfect is often not needed, not mandatory, when it is used to refer to the past and it's not part of a conditional structure. Of course there are cases where it should be used to avoid ambiguity or put more stress on a certain event. 15012blockquote
10Hi02br
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