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ESL forum >
Ask for help > past perfect?
past perfect?
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ueslteacher
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past perfect?
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What would be the grammatically correct choice here: Eric moved/had moved to the USA decades ago, before the eastern and western part of both Berlin and Germany were reunited in 1990. I need this for a key for an exam paper. There �s an indication of the first action happening prior to the second one but the first sentence also has "decades ago". So what would you use? Sophia |
23 Mar 2014
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maryse pey�
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Hi Sophia,
with "ago" only simple past, so "moved" here. With "had moved" you would have "decades before".
Hugs.
Maryse.
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23 Mar 2014
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douglas
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My first thought is to use simple past (moved)--"decades ago" sets the specific time in the past and the comma offers a good separation from the two clauses.
EDIT: and my second thought says both would work 
Cheers,
Douglas |
24 Mar 2014
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lurdesilva
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Hi, Sophia!
I also think the past simple is the correct/best option.
Have a nice day! |
24 Mar 2014
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ueslteacher
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Thank you all for taking your time to share your opinions with me. Anyone else willing to share? The more the better. |
24 Mar 2014
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douglas
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The more I look around online the more it seems that "ago" just doesn �t fit with the past perfect. |
24 Mar 2014
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