tense

Taka wrote:

When my uncle got married in his mid-twenties, my father, who had lived in the house since he was born, moved to Chicago to work for a company there. Is it OK to use 'lived' in the sentence instead of 'had lived'? If it's OK, what kind of difference do you native speakers detect between: (a) When my uncle got married in his mid-twenties, my father, who had lived in the house since he was born, moved to Chicago to work for a company there. and (b) When my uncle got married in his mid-twenties, my father, who lived in the house since he was born, moved to Chicago to work for a company there. ?

'Had lived' is fine, since the living there happened up until the time of the marriage.  'Had been living' is my preference, because it emphasizes es the continuity of the living there.

Hello Taka

I too find the simple past tense unidiomatic – 'since' seems to require a perfect tense (present, past, or future) in such contexts.

MrP