Was?
Could you tell me please why the author uses 'was' and not 'had' here in this passage?
It was of enormous symbolic importance as the second city of Northern Ireland, as the site of the legendary siege of 1689 in which the Protestants resisted the forces of James II, and as the town in which a Nationalist majority was denied control of local government by a particularly flagrant gerrymander of the electoral boundaries
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ninania It was of enormous symbolic importance as the second city of Northern Ireland, as the site of the legendary siege of 1689 in which the Protestants resisted the forces of James II, and as the town in which a Nationalist majority was denied control of local government by a particularly flagrant gerrymander of the electoral boundaries If you change "was" to "had", the meaning of the sentence changes drastically. 1) Nationalist majority was denied control of local government by a particularly flagrant gerrymander of the electoral boundaries Meaning: Some one or some committee in the past created the electoral boundaries in such a way that the Nationalists could not get a majority vote and win enough seats to control the government. 2) Nationalist majority had denied control of local government by a particularly flagrant gerrymander of the electoral boundaries The meaning is incomplete because it needs a "to - " phrase.
- ninania It was of enormous symbolic importance as the second city of Northern Ireland, as the site of the legendary siege of 1689 in which the Protestants resisted the forces of James II, and as the town in which a Nationalist majority was denied control of local government by a particularly flagrant gerrymander of the electoral boundaries If you change "was" to "had", the meaning of the sentence changes drastically.
- 1) Nationalist majority was denied control of local government by a particularly flagrant gerrymander of the electoral boundaries Meaning: Some one or some committee in the past created the electoral boundaries in such a way that the Nationalists could not get a majority vote and win enough seats to control the government.
- 2) Nationalist majority had denied control of local government by a particularly flagrant gerrymander of the electoral boundaries The meaning is incomplete because it needs a "to - " phrase.
- I will put one in.
- Nationalist majority had denied control of local government to the Protestant minority party by a particularly flagrant gerrymander of the electoral boundaries Meaning - The Nationalists created the electoral boundaries in the past, so that the Protestants would not be able to win a majority of the seats and gain control of the government.
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ninaniaIt was of enormous symbolic importance as the second city of Northern Ireland, as the site of the legendary siege of 1689 in which the Protestants resisted the forces of James II, and as the town in which a Nationalist majority was denied control of local government by a particularly flagrant gerrymander of the electoral boundariesIf you change "was" t
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