By Past perfect, Commas

"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, Could you tell me if the following sentence is a correct one?you said that it wouldn't be a problem since you could provide a car till I had bought one myself. It's incorrect without capitals. The rest of it is OK, although I'm not sure why you have chosen to use Past Perfect. I'd put a...

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 Jackson, 1 - Yankee: I didn't see your post until after I posted. I agree with you. This is ok, you could say "until I had posted", but not "until I have posted", I think, because you are talking from a past point of view and you need a past perfect. 2 - Puzzled: Of course if...

Differences between Past simple & Past perfect (simple)From my point of view the sentence "I have written 3 pages of my essay today." means, that I haven't finished it yet. Some work is done ("I have done something already.") and I will work on it later in the future.And the sentence "I wrote...

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...

There are sunshine every season. There is sunshine in every season. (sunshine is singular - so is, not are, and you need the preposition in) California winter is not as cold as the Winter of Ohio, instead it is mild.The California winter is not as cold as winter in Ohio; instead, it is...

Market wrote: 1. is this phrase correct : He turns away in disgust. especialy the word "disgust" does it fit with the present tense. It would fit, regardless of the tense. plus having problem with this verb tense. (it must be in present tense) plus do i put comma? 2. They disappear...

I'd just use simple past: He just laughed and said, "Things like that happen." But if you DO want past perfect, "He had just laughed and said, " Generally, use a comma after the word "said" before you start the quote. Mary said, "Where is my lamb?" And yes, burglar. Note the other R. (Thanks...