Are all the following sentences grammatical and similar in meaning?
1) John went to the supermarket after he had gone to the library.
2) John went to the supermarket after he went to the library.
3) John went to the supermarket after the library.
gray train 479Are all the following sentences grammatical and similar in meaning?
1) John went to the supermarket after he had gone to the library.
2) John went to the supermarket after he went to the library.
3) John went to the supermarket after the library.
Yes, but in 3) I'd write "after going to the library".
If you have a noun that represents an activity or action of some sort, it makes more sense to omit the verb, but not so much when the noun is a physical object.
OK:
John went to the supermarket after the meal.
We went to bed and got some rest after the celebration.
People displaced by the hostilities went home after the war.
Not so good:
We went jogging after the post office.
CJ
I would not expect the perfect unless there was a reason for it, such as "John went to the supermarket only after he had gone to the library."
This is standard if all you mean is the time sequence.
This is natural colloquial English.
Hi CJ,
Thanks for your reply.
To clarify, does it mean that when using ‘after’ on two past actions, there is no need to use the Past Perfect Tense to show the sequence of events?
Example:
Jane went to the room after she brushed her teeth.
Paul entered the house after he took off his shoes.
Correct. This applies to 'before' as well as 'after'.
If one event is the cause of another that happens next, 'when' also occurs without the past perfect:
The thieves fled when the police arrived.
Here 'when' suggests 'immediately after'.
CJ