Certainly, he heard

[Boris Tatarenko]

Hello.

Certainly, he heard a lot of stories about UFO’s, but he always laughed at and considered them as a tale.

My teacher said there was a mistake in the sentence above. Frankly speaking, it sounds good to me. What's the problem?
Thanks.

 

[Boris Tatarenko]

The whole context is: The whole field was lit up and there were some strange noises. Mr. Burton could not believe his eyes - it was a flying saucer. Certainly, he heard a lot of stories about UFO’s, but he always laughed at and considered them as a tale.

 

[riquecohen]

It seems to me that the sentence should end as follows: "considered them as tales."

 

[Tarheel]

Perhaps:

Certainly, he had heard a lot of stories about UFO’s, but he always laughed at them and considered them fictional.

​

There are other possibilities.

 

[emsr2d2]

The end should be "considered them to be fiction" or "considered them to be made-up". At the beginning, it should be "Certainly he had heard ...". Can you see why?

(Cross-posted with Tarheel.)

 

[Tarheel]

GMTA

:up:

 

[Boris Tatarenko]

To be honest, I can't understand why I should use the past perfect there.

 

[bhaisahab]

"Certainly, he heard a lot of stories about UFO’s, but he always laughed at them and considered them to be fictional/made up." This seems OK to me.

 

[emsr2d2]

If you're talking about a habitual action (hearing lots of stories about UFOs), I agree. However, it seems to me that it is specifically that he had heard lots of stories and thought them fiction before he saw one for himself.

 

[Tarheel]

Either way works, IMHO.

 

[bhaisahab]

Either way works, IMHO.

Yes, it does.

 

[Rover_KE]

Note ems's use of UFOs.

There's no need for an apostrophe.