[Grammar] Using 'so that'

[amigos]

Hello,
Can we use past perfect tense after the conjunction 'so that'?
My son who is in grade 6 was writing a personal narrative for ELA (language arts), and he wrote a sentence as

"I wish the gophers had come out of their burrows earlier so that I could have played with them a bit longer."

All I want to know is if this sentence is grammatically correct.

Regards'

 

[GoesStation]

The sentence is correct, but it doesn't use the past perfect after "so that".

 

[teechar]

and he wrote [STRIKE]a sentence as[/STRIKE] the following sentence.

.

 

[amigos]

Thanks for your prompt reply! How about if I make a minor change to the sentence by replacing 'could have played' with ' could play'?

"I wish the gophers had come out of their burrows earlier so that I could play (instead of 'could have played') with them a bit longer.

Regards'

 

[teechar]

amigos, just as an exercise for you, what you think Piscean meant in post #5?

 

[amigos]

Hi,
My question is still unanswered. I want to know if it is correct to use past perfect tense after 'so that' when 'so that' is used as a conjunction. Please consider the following example

"I wish I had had some change so that I could have bought the beggar a coffe."

What I am trying to say here is I regret not buying him a coffe, and if I had had some money, I would have bought him a coffe.

Regards,

I

 

[tzfujimino]

It's "coffee".

 

[emsr2d2]

"I wish I had had some change so that I could have bought the beggar a coffee."

I think you're getting the verb forms (tenses) mixed up. I have underlined the only instance of the past perfect that appears in your sentence. It quite clearly does not come after "so that". Piscean has told you what comes after "so that" - "could have bought" is a modal perfect.

 

[amigos]

Hi,
I am really sorry for reiterating past perfect. I do not know why I kept repeating past perfect while I wanted to ask whether using modal perfect after 'so that' was grammatical.
Million thanks for correcting me. Also, thanks for putting missing 'e' back in place.

Regards'