had visited or visited

[edmondjanet]

I had visited my grand father last year. I read one grammar book that I visited my grand father last year is correct. This I can't understand because one is past perfect and other one is past. I can't see any grammar mistake in both sentence.
Thank you.

[allenman]

"I visited..." is correct because you are stating a fact.
You need to use the perfect tenses when talking about a past event which continues to the time being described.

Not a teacher

[TheParser]

I had visited my grand father last year. I read one grammar book that I visited my grand father last year is correct. This I can't understand because one is past perfect and other one is past. I can't see any grammar mistake in both sentence.
Thank you.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


(1) He did many things last year: he graduated from college, he toured Japan, and

he visited his grandfather.

(2) Tom's grandfather died last year. Tom had visited him three months before he

died. (Tom visited him in February; his grandfather died in May.)

[tedtmc]

"I visited..." is correct because you are stating a fact.
You need to use the perfect tenses when talking about a past event which continues to the time being described.

Not a teacher

Actually, the present tense is used more for factual statements.

It has to be the past tense when the time in the past is specified.

not a teacher

[Barb_D]

Actually, the present tense is used more for factual statements.

It has to be the past tense when the time in the past is specified.

not a teacher

No, the present is used for habitual action or a fact that is a "universal truth.". You would certainly not use the present to describe a completed act.

Additionally you don't use the past perfect to describe a past action that relates to the present. That's what present perfect is used for. You use past perfect to describe a past event in relation to another past event, as the Parser shows in his example.

I had visited my grandfather before I left for college and he had given me some good advice that I was able to apply right away.

Even then you don't need the past perfect because the word "before" makes it clear what the order of actions was.

[tedtmc]

No, the present is used for habitual action or a fact that is a "universal truth.". You would certainly not use the present to describe a completed act.

OK, not all facts but not necessarily all universal truths. It could be used for generalisations.

ENGLISH PAGE - Simple Present