Tenses

[JbhB682]

Hi Experts -

I was curious if my understanding of sequencing of tenses is accurate

Source : made up
i) I drank the coffee that had been cold
ii) I drank the coffee that was cold
iii) I drank the coffee that is cold

[JbhB682]

i) the coffee was cold before I drank it

ii)
- we do not know if the coffee was cold before i actually drank the coffee
- Given both tenses are in the simple past -- all we can say is

At the exact time of drinking the coffee, the coffee was cold then.


iii) Is this saying --

I drank coffee in the past tense but the coffee in my stomach (after drinking the coffee) is still cold as of today in my belly. It is still true even after drinking the coffee.

Somehow if I could look into my belly and test if the coffee I drank is still cold in my belly -- that's what the present tense implies in this case ?

[esledge]

I was curious if my understanding of sequencing of tenses is accurate

Source : made up
i) I drank the coffee that had been cold
ii) I drank the coffee that was cold
iii) I drank the coffee that is cold

i) The past perfect tense is never correct if used in a sentence without either (a) a past time marker or (b) some later past action in the regular past tense. Technically, you have (b) in this example, implying that the coffee had been cold before you drank it (both actions in the past, but being cold came first). I think my main objection to this one is that the meaning is unclear: what happened to change the temperature of the coffee? Or did I drink it while it was still cold? If so, why not say "I drank the cold coffee"? If it was only cold for a while, why not explain that?

Wrong (because the meaning is unclear): I drank the coffee that had been cold
Correct: Desperate for caffeine, I drank the coffee that had been cold since this morning.
Correct: The coffee had been cold for hours but it tasted marginally better after I heated it in the microwave.

ii) This one is good and the meaning is as you explained. However, there's a more efficient phrasing: I drank the cold coffee.

iii) Is this saying --

I drank coffee in the past tense but the coffee in my stomach (after drinking the coffee) is still cold as of today in my belly. It is still true even after drinking the coffee.

Somehow if I could look into my belly and test if the coffee I drank is still cold in my belly -- that's what the present tense implies in this case ?

iii) I think your interpretation is ... probably the most literal interpretation of this sentence. I thought of it this way:

If both verbs are main verbs:
I drank the coffee and it is cold
In this version, it = "the coffee," and could possibly refer to the coffee in my stomach or the rest of the (unconsumed) coffee in the pot. Or, I drank the coffee, and can now tell you from my experience that the coffee is cold.

When only the past tense verb is a main verb and the past perfect is part of a noun modifier:
I drank the coffee that is cold
In this version, "that is cold" modifies only the coffee I drank, so I think it does literally refer to the stomach contents. So, that's weird and debatable (wouldn't your body heat it up above room temperature? how would you measure this?). So again, there's awkwardness around the meaning here.

Is this question based on something you've seen? I wonder if it would be easier for you to think through this with two verbs that involve more "action" ("is cold," with its verb of being, is rather static).