ebb
Joined: 12 Jan 2006
Posts: 87
Location: USA
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 Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 9:32 am Post subject: tenses |
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1.a I couldn't believe he had said that.
1.b I couldn't believe he said that.
2.a I thought he chose the wrong number.
2.b I thought he had chosen the wrong number.
I really can't decide which one to choose (the past simple or the past perfect) especially with these verbs (thought/believed) because they tend to precede the other past verb and thus shouldn't we always use the past perfect?
The past perfect is typical when you want to emphasize that event A in the past preceded event B in the past. So 1a would emphasize that you had a past disbelief (you may or may not still hold to this past belief), and your past disbelief came after his remark. .... for instance, he said it on a Monday, and you only heard about his remark (from your friend) the following Thursday.
1b would tend to emphasize that his saying it, and your disbelief were contemporaneous. "I could not believe it when he walked in the door ... I did not think he would come to the party !"
"I was astonished when Sarah announced that she was pregnant."
Although, native speakers would still use conversationally 1b, as well as 1a, if event A preceded event B (i.e. even if the past events were not contemporaneous). The niceties of the past perfect are often disregarded in everyday speech, even by the well-educated.
1b would also be used on the notion that the "had" is elliptical... (as in ellipsis, you can look this up if it is not familiar to you).
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"This is insolence up with which I will not put." Winston Churchill, upon reading a newspaper�s criticism of his having ended a sentence with a preposition.
"You can get more with a kind word and a gun, than with just a kind word." Al Capone. |
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