By Commas, Simple past

No - At that time requires the simple past, and don't use a comma after discovered. At that time, I discovered that what people had been saying about how time flies is true. But try something like this: It was then that I discovered the truth of what people have always said: Time does fly!

Hoa Thai wrote: Yoong Liat wrote:I'd not use a comma.Hi Yoong Liat,How did you interpret the clause 'when he killed his girlfriend in a car crash'? I am troubled with when, particularly the verb kill is in simple past tense, because the whole sentence could mean 'as soon as he killed his...

Yoong Liat wrote:I'd not use a comma.Hi Yoong Liat,How did you interpret the clause 'when he killed his girlfriend in a car crash'? I am troubled with when, particularly the verb kill is in simple past tense, because the whole sentence could mean 'as soon as he killed his girlfriend, he was...

Hi Newguest, For a start, that sentence should really have commas around the inserted relative clause to show that the action that follows still applies to the main subject (experiment) - so: In fact, the reactions of both groups were so intense that the experiment was broken off after six...

Hi, One thing that tells us the simple past tense is correct, is that those who advocate otherwise, at preposterous length, cannot even avoid elementary grammatical blunders in their own writings. I can't understand this sentence though I know the meaning of every word in this sentence....

One thing that tells us the simple past tense is correct, is that those who advocate otherwise, at preposterous length, cannot even avoid elementary grammatical blunders in their own writings. I can't understand this sentence though I know the meaning of every word in this sentence....

Interestingly, I would tend to interpret "since his youth" as older than "since he was very young".Yes, the word 'since' is used as a time reference, but I still feel that native speakers (especially AmE) would find it irritating in combination with the simple past tense in the rest of the...

When he had shut the window we opened the door of the cage. Is it preferred to "When he shut the window we opened the door of the cage"? Any difference in meaning? -- Yes. Past perfect indicates that the window-shutting is finished first; past simple could mean that windoww-shutting and...

In A Practical English Grammar A.J. Thomson and A.V. Martinet say that the past perfect is used after when when we wish to emphasize that the first action was completed before the second one started: When he had shut the window we opened the door of the cage. Is it preferred to "When he shut...

Hi, Is it proper to write the past perfect here? I think it would be fine to write the simple past tense here. Just he collborated with Poland's secret police is fine. You can say it either way, because either way the sequence of events is clear. The collaboration came before the...