JCDenton  +  568862 Sun, 21 Sep 08 10:51 PM Hi guys, I prepared for you another test. I hope everything will be okay...:-). If there is problem in that test, let me know. 1) They broke the window while they Selectwere playingplayedhave been playinghad played  football. 2) I couldn't take her to school by car because when I stopped at her house, she Selecthas lefthad already leftalready leftwas leaving . 3) I finally met the girl who I Selecthad heard've heardheardwas hearing so much about.    4) It's ten years since I  Selectwas startingstarted've startedhad started my job.    5) I  Selectwalkedhad walkedhave walkedwas walking along the street when I heard an explosion.    Best Regards JCD       JCDenton Joined on Tue, Jul 3 2007 Regular Member 658 Regards, Football, Tests

	Philip  +  568887 Mon, 22 Sep 08 12:31 AM I understand your reasoning for the answer in #3; I think that the use of the past perfect indicates that I no longer hear about her, now that I've met her.  However, if I'm still hearing about her, I think the present perfect [I've heard], or even the present continuous perfect [I've been hearing] would be correct.  Philip Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005 Veteran Member 8,733 At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen Past Perfect, Present Perfect, Present Continuous

	JCDenton  +  568990 Mon, 22 Sep 08 09:21 AM  Hi Philip, That sentence(#3) is a typical example of sequence of tenses. The speaker is referring here to an event which happened before, in the past (he finally met that girl). And in addition, he'd been hearing about her before they met each other. In the other words, that event happened before they finally met. That's the reason why past perfect is the only possible option here. I guess using of present perfect changes the point of that sentence. After he met that girl, he don't need to listen to the rumors about her anymore. He made an own conclusion about her. Thank you guys that you tried my test...:-) Best Regards JCD     JCDenton Tenses, Past Perfect, Present Perfect

	JCDenton  +  569234 Mon, 22 Sep 08 07:55 PM Hi Zerox, You can't use there present perfect, because it's not grammatically correct. To use this tense, you'd have to say ...I've been working here for 10 years, or something like that. In present perfect, if you want to express the time duration which continues to the present time, then you have to use for + present perfect...This is fact. Sentence used in my test is just saying that he started to work there 10 years ago...Nothing more, nothing less... Best Regards JCD   JCDenton Tenses, Present Perfect

	Zerox  +  569264 Mon, 22 Sep 08 09:25 PM In that case Thomson and Martinet, the authors of 'A practical English grammar', disagree with you. Zerox Grammar, English Grammar

	JCDenton  +  569284 Mon, 22 Sep 08 09:58 PM Just think about that sentence again. That sentence is about something what happened in the past and it ended in the past. He just started his job (founded a company...eg). This sentence is not about whether he's still working there or not.  I think we need native speakers here... Regards       JCDenton Regards