xiaomaomao
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- Aug 5, 2023
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Hi, I’m currently reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and I’m confused by the grammar structure of this sentence highlighted in pink below:
Four years later, when she came to write in the basement, two thoughts struck Liesel about the trauma of wetting the bed. Firstly, she felt extremely lucky that it was Papa who discovered the book. (Fortunately, when the sheets had been washed previously, Rosa had made Liesel strip the bed and make it up…) - p. 68
From my understanding, there are two past perfect phrases in this sentence:
Could someone please explain why the author wrote both phrases in the past perfect tense? Did the author use this grammar structure to convey that these two events both happened before sometime in the past, just like any other stand-alone past perfect sentences, since they occurred before the present, which is technically the past, as the book is written in the past tense?
Thank so much you in advance
Four years later, when she came to write in the basement, two thoughts struck Liesel about the trauma of wetting the bed. Firstly, she felt extremely lucky that it was Papa who discovered the book. (Fortunately, when the sheets had been washed previously, Rosa had made Liesel strip the bed and make it up…) - p. 68
From my understanding, there are two past perfect phrases in this sentence:
- When the sheets had been washed previously (past perfect passive)
- Rosa had made Liesel strip the bed and make it up… (past perfect)
Could someone please explain why the author wrote both phrases in the past perfect tense? Did the author use this grammar structure to convey that these two events both happened before sometime in the past, just like any other stand-alone past perfect sentences, since they occurred before the present, which is technically the past, as the book is written in the past tense?
Thank so much you in advance
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