0
PreciousJones Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

We had spoken

This is a dialogue from a movie:

A: "I can't believe they changed the dates of the concerts!"

B: "We had spoken about it."

Shouldn't it be "we've spoken about it." 'cause we had spoken is past perfect tense and it's only used to describe a past situation of a past situation.

Thanks for the support!
  

Top answer

PreciousJones used to describe a past situation of a past situation. The past situation that this is previous to is simply not mentioned in your excerpt. The speaker obviously thinks the speaking happened before something else in the past.

— CalifJim

  • PreciousJones used to describe a past situation of a past situation.
  • The past situation that this is previous to is simply not mentioned in your excerpt.
  • The speaker obviously thinks the speaking happened before something else in the past.
  • CJ
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

3 Answers
0
PreciousJonesused to describe a past situation of a past situation.
The past situation that this is previous to is simply not mentioned in your excerpt. The speaker obviously thinks the speaking happened before something else in the past.

CJ
0
0
So youre saying that when you use the past perfect it doesn't have to include the situation that happened after the past perfect tense situation?

Example:

We had spoken about it before the changed dates. It can be just:

We had spoken about it.

Thanks.
0
0
PreciousJonesSo youre saying that when you use the past perfect it doesn't have to include the situation that happened after the past perfect tense situation?
That's correct. The situation that happened after the past perfect tense situation does not have to be stated in the same sentence. However, (and this is important) something must already have b
0

Related Questions