The tense
The books he borrowed from the library were so difficult that it was not until he read them over more than ten times that he understood it them completely.
Should the underlined tense be ‘had read’? Or are both tenses correct?
Top answer
It could be argued that the reading and the understanding were contemporaneous, so the simple past tense "read" is acceptable. On the other hand you could say that the reading took place before the understanding, so strictly speaking the past perfect "had read" is appropriate. Nothing to choose - both OK.
- It could be argued that the reading and the understanding were contemporaneous, so the simple past tense "read" is acceptable.
- On the other hand you could say that the reading took place before the understanding, so strictly speaking the past perfect "had read" is appropriate.
- Nothing to choose - both OK.
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It could be argued that the reading and the understanding were contemporaneous, so the simple past tense "read" is acceptable.
On the other hand you could say that the reading took place before the understanding, so strictly speaking the past perfect "had read" is appropriate.
Nothing to choose - both OK.
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