[Grammar] I realized i had forgotten vs I realized i have forgotten

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rainous

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Jun 8, 2011
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Dear experts,

Which one of the two is correct?

i realized i had forgotten
or
i realized i have forgotten

or are they both correct depending on the context?


thx in advance.
 

albertino

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Dear experts,

Which one of the two is correct?

i realized i had forgotten(The main verb is 'realized', a past action, so 'I had forgotten' should be in the past as well.)
or
i realized i have forgotten

or are they both correct depending on the context?


thx in advance.
(Not a teacher)
 

SirGod

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Feb 26, 2010
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Interested in Language
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*Not a teacher

Definitely the first one. And I have two arguments for that:

1) You had forgotten something before you realised it. (you use past perfect when an event happened before a past event)
2) You must use past tense in the subordinate clause if there is past tense in the main clause. (except the case when there is a general truth in the subordinate clause, which is not the case here)

I realized I had forgotten...

PS: Always capitalise I.
 
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