Perfect Tense : Only when necessary

[abhishek.shanker]

The Manhattan SC guide states: "use Past perfect tense only when one action in the past precedes another and the time sequence needs to be emphasized or clarified"

Example:

Joe LEARNED about an epoch in which dinosaurs HAD WALKED the earth - Wrong

The explanation given states that even though the action WALKED took place earlier than LEARNED, past perfect tense should not be applied to WALKED as the sequence of time does not need to be emphasized or clarified.Also, The past Perfect had walked is unnecessary as the action does not have a direct bearing on the context of the later action.

My reasoning: Action WALKED if not completed then "LEARNING" cannot take place. Can some one please clarify? Is this concept applicable always? Also how do we decide if an action has impact on other.

[messi10]

Hi Abhishek,

Joe LEARNED about an epoch in which dinosaurs HAD WALKED the earth - Wrong

If you look at context of the sentence, you know that dinosaurs existed before Joe. The past action is obvious and does not require the use of past perfect.

My reasoning: Action WALKED if not completed then "LEARNING" cannot take place. Can some one please clarify?

Correct but using simple past, it does not mean that the action "walked" did not complete.

Also how do we decide if an action has impact on other.

You have to look at the meaning of the sentence and decide accordingly.

Regards

Sunil

[jnelson0612]

Sunil is correct yet again! :-)