In Past simple^x

written a couple of lines someone calls me". Your sentence is a backshifted version of this.

Am I right that "came down" can be replaced by "had began" producing a sentence consisting of three Past Perfect clauses? «Before they had finished breakfast the clouds had joined into an unbroken roof and a straight grey rain had began"» I have seen usages...

Your time line is correct. The last clause is probably in the past simple because raining is non-eventive (i.e. imperfective). had come down would have implied that the entire "rain-event" had already finished before breakfast, but in fact it was still raining during breakfast. CJ

Hello all! In spite a chronical lack of time, I have managed to spare some of it to continue the reading of "The Lord of the Rings", so here're is my new question: "Before they had finished breakfast the clouds had joined into an unbroken roof and a straight grey rain...

Hi guys, I asked about that third question two english teachers who I know and they replied, at first:"Past perfect, of course". But then: "Wait a minute, is that guy still hearing about that girl or have they ended their relationship after they met each other?" Yes, I should...

Hi Kooyeen, how very kind of you, thanks for the welcome I'm with you if you mean the writer's word use is confusing. 'Tumble's skirts', I tried to search the word 'tumble' but no matched meaning that fit into this phrase, or it would seem.. It's a part of...

Hi, first of all, without a more general context, it's difficult to understand perfectly what the writer wanted to convey. Anyway, what I know is that the past perfect is often not necessary and can be replaced with the past simple, provided there are no misunderstandings and the sequence of...

Hi, This is part of what Roger Woodham said when responding to a question. This is from BBC Learning English about mixed conditionals. Roger Woodham said this in her response to a question: mixed second / third conditional The other possibility, though I think this is less common, is when we...

My friend from the previous answer said many things but did not answer your question!! By the way, the comparison is with the Simple Past, and not with the Simple Present. To keep things simple there are some basic situations when you should use the present perfect: 1- Something started in the...

Hi everybody, Why do all the Grammar books use the expressions "simple present" and "simple past", although all the other tenses start with the tense-marker and add the aspect-marker then: present progressive, present perfect, present perfect progressive, past progressive,...