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Anonymous Posted 22 years ago
Grammar

Usage of "HAD TO" after "WERE" - is this correct ??

I know this is wrong.. Can any one please explain me why ??

In Renaissance, painters were so impressed with Da Vinci that they had to ignore their own training and designate as masterpiece anything he painted.

Are there any strict rules for tense order ?? I know that sometimes tense orders don't make sense. But many times it leaves me confused.Emotion: smile

Thanks,
Sharad.
  

Top answer

Sequence of tenses. The general trend is to use "present oriented tenses" together in the same sentence, and "past oriented tenses" together in the same sentence, but there are many cases that don't follow the trend. Present oriented tenses: present perfect ...

  • Sequence of tenses.
  • The general trend is to use "present oriented tenses" together in the same sentence, and "past oriented tenses" together in the same sentence, but there are many cases that don't follow the trend.
  • Present oriented tenses: present perfect ...
  • present ...
  • , "will".
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6 Answers
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Sequence of tenses.

The general trend is to use "present oriented tenses" together in the same sentence, and "past oriented tenses" together in the same sentence, but there are many cases that don't follow the trend.

Present oriented tenses: present perfect ... present ... future (of the present), i.e., "will".
Past oriented tenses: ..... past perfect ........ past .....
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Hi Jim,

I'll bite.

"Had to" does not give the time frame when one "had to" . So the tense we use after "were so impresses" should be in timeframe that is after "painters got impressed". so i thought the correct statement would be -

..were so impressed ..that .. they ignored and designated ..

Let me know where I am going wrong here. I somehow feel that "h
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All four sentences about the polio shots are correct!

Here's where you are getting off the track:

"had" by itself does not indicate the Past Perfect tense. It indicates the Past Perfect tense when it is followed by a past participle!

Present, Past, Present Perfect, Past Perfect of "take":
takes, took, has taken, had taken.

But what if the main
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Jim,
thanks.. your explanation cleared lot of my doubts...

Can you give usage examples for "has had to take" and "had had to take" ??

1> He has had to live or die situations.

Does this mean
He has faced "to live or die" situations. OR ??
He has faced "have to live or die" situations in past.

2> He had had to live or die situati
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Sharad, Sharad! Emotion: smile

You are getting yourself tangled up here!
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Jim,

Thanks for making all the corrections.. I am able to follow what you mentioned above.
I need to pay careful attention to tenses for couple of more weeks to be comfortable in the usage.. Thanks for taking so much interest. It's hard to unlearn the wrong usage i have learnt and used so far.

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