By Simple past, Past perfect

Hi! I was reading an article about Homo sapiens and I read: "We believe their ancestors may have reached the island using bamboo rafts." Is the use of present perfect correct? I'd have used simple past or past perfect? Can someone explain me? Thanks

Grammatically the past perfect is possible in these two sentences, but is natural in neither, because the time relation is clear without its use. If it is unclear which came first, or you want to stress that one past event came first, complete and independent of the second past event, past...

1. Possible. 2. Not really. In this example, since you used the word 'already', a present perfect tense is preferred. Note, however, it is not always true that 'already' must be connected to 'perfect tense'. If you wish to use simple past, say this instead: - 'Yes, I ate it.' There's...

Sharad, Sharad! You are getting yourself tangled up here! Let's see how we can get you untangled. He has had to live or die situations. He had had to live or die situations. He had have to live or die situations. None of these is exactly right. You want to include the idea of...

If I weren't interested in football I wouldn't have minded watching the film on Channel Two yesterday evening. The "Type 1 Conditional" form is: If I am not interested in football, I won't mind watching the film on Channel Two yesterday evening. (Note that the future "won't" and the past...

I am not a teacher but I'll try: 1. "called" in the past perfect and simple past operate in the usual rules, ex: He called me yesterday. He had called me before. Though there is some leeway, so that informally I wouldn't consider "He'd called me yesterday" to be wrong. 2. I think you're...

Hello, teachers! Would you please help me with this sentence? - I just heard from my cousin that you here yesterday. 1. I think the past perfect tense is also correct, but we usually use the simple past. Am I right? 2. I think we can use 'up', but actually it is not necessary. Am I right? 3....

Hello, Jack and Johnno "I have never seen him drive the car before." Johnoo said the tense used in this sentence is the present perfect of "see" (have seen), which is true. That is the main verb of the sentence. Now, "drive" has a different subject (him); as Johnno said, it is an infinitive...

I've posted this in another thread: would + base form of verb = simple conditional (would go) would + have + past participle = perfect conditional (would have gone) Both are usually seen in conditional sentences Types II and III. Type II: "If it started to rain now, I would stay at home." Type...

Hello, Dave would + base form of verb = simple conditional would + have + past participle = perfect conditional I don't know those by any other names, but of course it is probable that there may be authors who may give those different names. In my mother tongue, the "conditional" used to be...