By Adverbs, Past perfect

Greetings,I have a pretty big favour to ask.I've been struggling with this topic for quite awhile now.It goes without saying that my English "leaves something to be desired".Having in mind the subtle differences that occur from using particular tenses, I have often wondered how the...

Thanks CJ"Serious grammatical error" is my paraphrase. But when and if ESL students start to expressly state "this IS an exceptional usage", I suppose that means "these is a set rule on this and no one can break that in any shape or form"."the simplification of...

.Hi, Sam.I had seen a lot of victims being carried out by stretchers1)Is this grammatically correct? -- Yes, but the past perfect is odd out of context; it demands another reference point in the past.2) But what is the second one? (being carried out by stretchers) -- It is a non-finite clause...

"The Change of the Characteristics in the passage from The Hours" The passage from the novel The Hours by Michael Cunningham is intriguing. The passage illustrates the difference between the character's characteristics in different time settings: past and present. This difference is...

Hi, Which of the following is correct? and why? "I am sure you never had heard this before." or "I am sure you had never heard this before." You can say either, but #2 is much more common. It's idiomatic, ie we like to say it that way. Also, consider what happens when you repllace 'never'...

Hi,little question:I know I can use the simple past instead of the the present perfect with some adverbs, like "already", "just", ect. What about using the simple past instead of the past perfect? That's common, but I don't kow if it is still common when some adverbs are used. Examples:I (have)...

You have to use the Past Perfect to indicate that something happened before an event you are talking about. Sometimes it is not necessary to use the Past Perfect, especially when there are introducing adverbs like before or whatever. But to make clear that they voted before that rally, you have...

Grammar Geek wrote:Hi Pastsimple - Ironically, you should have used the simple past "I used this phrase." The combination of "today" and what was probably a single use makes simple past appropropriate. If you in fact did say it several times today and were planning on saying it again, then...

4) Mary had shared an apartment with me before she found a job out-of –state. This calls for past perfect tense to depict the time line of something happened in the past and finished in the past. The sharing took place sometime in the past and finished in the past...

Paco2004 wrote:I'm a mere learner but I'd like to express my disagreement. As far as I learned, the time adverbial "by the time ..." is to be used with a main clause that states an accomplished event. You are free to use it in a combination with a continuous event stating main clause because...