BW2/3  +  318185 Sun, 21 Jan 07 11:15 PM Many ancient wonders had gone yet the oldest wonder is still there after 50 centuries. Is the above sentence correct? Thank you BW2/3 Joined on Sat, Oct 22 2005 Contributing Member 1,283 Carpe diem!!

	Ant_222  +  318207 Mon, 22 Jan 07 12:33 AM Not sure whether it sounds ok, but anyway you should use Present Perfect instead of Past Perfect there: «Many ancient wonders have gone yet the oldest wonder is still there after 50 centuries.» Ant_222 Joined on Sun, May 21 2006 Podolsk, Russia Contributing Member 1,742 Past Perfect, Present Perfect

	CalifJim  +  318262 Mon, 22 Jan 07 05:41 AM Many ancient wonders had gone yet the oldest wonder is still there after 50 centuries. This will make a better sentence if both verbs are from the same point of view. Present point of view:  present,  present perfect tenses, will, can, ... Past point of view: past, past perfect tenses, would, could, ... Many ancient wonders have gone; yet the oldest wonder is still there after 50 centuries. Many ancient wonders had gone; yet the oldest wonder was still there after 50 centuries. CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 24,222 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche Verbs, Tenses, Past Perfect, Present Perfect

	Ant_222  +  318378 Mon, 22 Jan 07 01:53 PM «Why is present perfect appropriate?» Well, because you don't care when they disappeared/were destroyed. Present Perfect implies any time interval ending at the present. For exmple, the year 500 B.C - 2007 A.C. Furthermore, Present perfect focuses on the result rather than the action itself, which is also a good point for you sentence. Here's Jim's sentence: «Many ancient wonders had gone; yet the oldest wonder was still there after 50 centuries.» — this sentence tells about some moment in the past. For example, «By 1812 many ancient wonders had gone; yet the oldest wonder was still there after 50 centuries.» "had gone" — they had disappeared before 1812. Thus it is pure "past before past". "was still there" — it still existed in 1812. Simple Past. Ant_222 Simple Past, Present Perfect