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ESL forum >
Ask for help > past perfect issues
past perfect issues
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nemomen
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past perfect issues
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Consider the following sentences:
She met her husband on her way to school when she was just fifteen. She (ride)was riding along the same road that she (cycle)had cycled on every day since she (start) started school.
Please tell me if they are the right answers or correct me if I �m wrong.
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12 Jan 2014
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cunliffe
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Your choices are correct.
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12 Jan 2014
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mohamedthabet
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I think the last verb (start) should be put in the past perfect tense, too (had started). This action took place before cycling. |
12 Jan 2014
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MoodyMoody
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I respectfully disagree, Mohamed. We use the perfect tenses for ongoing actions, and starting is a one-time action. I agree with Lynne that the past tense is good there. |
12 Jan 2014
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mohamedthabet
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Sorry, MoodyMoody, I thought it would be illogical to use the simple past for an action earlier than the one in past perfect. As for not using the past perfect for actions not "ongoing", what about this sentence? He had left long before I arrived. "left" is a single action completed in the past, not going on = continuing to the time when I arrived. |
12 Jan 2014
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viccxx
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The action that happened before the one that is on Past Simple should be in Past Perfect. I think I would phrase the sentence like this:
" She met her husband on her way to school when she was just fifteen. She (ride)was riding along the same road that she (cycle) cycled on every day since she (start) had started school.
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12 Jan 2014
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viccxx
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The on doesn �t go with the day that follows, it goes with the road. You cycle ON a road.
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13 Jan 2014
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nemomen
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I was baffled by the use of SINCE and I thought I should use the verb coming before it in the perfect tense but it is clear to me too that the last action is prior to that one and vicxx �s answers seem correct.
Thank you all so much!>:D<
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13 Jan 2014
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Malvine
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Let
us paraphrase the sentence like this: "She met her husband on her way to
school when she was just fifteen. She (ride) was
riding along the same road that
she (cycle) had cycled on every day since 2008.�
So,
she had cycled (had been cycling) on that road since 2008. We use the perfect
with �since�, all right? (In this case, it�s past perfect because it happened
before she met her husband.) Now, she started school in 2008, OK? Consequently,
�she had cycled the road since she started school (= since 2008)�.
Another
example: I have liked cooking since I was a child. I was a child from 1989 to
1999, OK? (Not �I have/had been a child from 1989 to 1999� � that was in the
PAST when I was a child, so the past tense should be used here.) Consequently, �I have liked
cooking since I was a child (= since 1990s)�, not �since I had been a child�.
Trust
native speakers more (like MoodyMoody and Cunliffe, for example).
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15 Jan 2014
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