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Anonymous Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
The use of Past Perfect tense in literature ?
Hi, Everyone.
I'm a little bit confused by George R.R. Martin's use of past perfect tense in his book A Game of Thrones.
Like in the following:
He put a massive arm around Ned's shoulders. "I had planned to wait a few days to speak to you, but I see now there's no need for it. Come, walk with me."
Shouldn't the present perfect tense "have planned" be the correct grammar to use instead of "had planned" ?
"I had not forgotten," Ned replied quietly. When the king did not answer, he said, "Tell me about Jon."
Shouldn't the present perfect tense "have not forgotten" be the correct grammar to use instead of "had not forgotten"
I'm a non-native speaker and as far as I know, we should use Past Perfect tense when we're comparing one action in the past to another. But since I've picked up this book, I've seen numerous usages of past perfect tense without following this rule. Did I misunderstand something about Past Perfect tense?
I'm a little bit confused by George R.R. Martin's use of past perfect tense in his book A Game of Thrones.
Like in the following:
He put a massive arm around Ned's shoulders. "I had planned to wait a few days to speak to you, but I see now there's no need for it. Come, walk with me."
Shouldn't the present perfect tense "have planned" be the correct grammar to use instead of "had planned" ?
"I had not forgotten," Ned replied quietly. When the king did not answer, he said, "Tell me about Jon."
Shouldn't the present perfect tense "have not forgotten" be the correct grammar to use instead of "had not forgotten"
I'm a non-native speaker and as far as I know, we should use Past Perfect tense when we're comparing one action in the past to another. But since I've picked up this book, I've seen numerous usages of past perfect tense without following this rule. Did I misunderstand something about Past Perfect tense?
Top answer
Anonymous He put a massive arm around Ned's shoulders. "I had planned to wait a few days to speak to you, but I see now there's no need for it. "Shouldn't the present perfect tense "have planned" be the correct grammar to use instead of "had planned" ?
- Anonymous He put a massive arm around Ned's shoulders.
- "I had planned to wait a few days to speak to you, but I see now there's no need for it.
- "Shouldn't the present perfect tense "have planned" be the correct grammar to use instead of "had planned" ?
- No.
- The planning (to wait for a few days) was complete at some previous time.
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2 Answers
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AnonymousHe put a massive arm around Ned's shoulders. "I had planned to wait a few days to speak to you, but I see now there's no need for it. Come, walk with me."Shouldn't the present perfect tense "have planned" be the correct grammar to use instead of "had planned" ?No. The planning (to wait for a few days) was complete at some previous time. The spea
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Thank you for the explanation. Now that I see that a past simple wouls be possible, can present perfect continous also be possible by replacing it with "I've been planning"? And I'm still confused by the the usages of past perfect in both examples, since there are no comparison to another action in the past.
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