By Simple past, Invitations

Marius Hancu wrote: Pioussoul wrote: I really wonder why the past tenses of joined and united are used here. For me, shouldn't they be present or future tenses? Would some experts shed some light? I'm really confused and don't see the perspective of native speakers. Those are not simple past...

...For instance, it says you could use sentences like "If I wasn't afraid of spiders, I would have picked it up" that have a If + simple past, Perfect conditional form... Yes, it sounds fine to me too. You might have expected a straightforward 'type 3' protasis (if I hadn't been afraid...); but...

Sir, IV - The present prefect used with "for" and "since" A. "for" is used with a period of time: for six days, for a long time. "for" is used with the simple past tense denotes a terminated period of time. (e.g) We lived there for ten years. ( but we don't live there now) "for"...