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ESL forum >
Ask for help > Perfect tense
Perfect tense
qismat
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Perfect tense
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Plz guide which is the correct sentence
1.When he reached home, mother had slept.
2.When he had reached home, mother had slept. |
3 Oct 2019
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sinister44
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Of course, the 1st sentence is correct because the act of his reaching home was after the mother�s sleep. When you compare two past events/actions and want to show that one event/action is the earlier, you have to use "past perfect simple" structure. |
3 Oct 2019
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douglas
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The first, but i would use "mother was sleeping"--the pp doesn�t seem to fit right in that clause. |
4 Oct 2019
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cunliffe
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Douglas, it means something different. It means his mother had had her sleep. When he got home, she was awake, after having slept. |
4 Oct 2019
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yanogator
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You are correct, Lynne, but, like Douglas, I don�t think that is what gismat intended. We might be wrong about that, of course. My guess, which is similar to Douglas�s, is that it should be "When he reached home, his mother had gone to sleep," which does use the past perfect. Bruce |
4 Oct 2019
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cunliffe
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@ Bruce , ah... yes, I think that is what is intended.
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4 Oct 2019
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douglas
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I�m sorry Nawfel, but Lynne is right to have seen it that way: Mother had slept (and was now awake, well-rested, and ready to start the adventure ahead of her). |
8 Oct 2019
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cunliffe
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Thanks Douglas, yes that is right. Probably not what the poster intended, though, as you pointed out and we agreed. |
8 Oct 2019
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