[Grammar] had predicted or predict?

[raymondaliasapollyon]

Hi,

Does the past perfect in the following passage have a past event as its anchor point?

To be a good scientist, you have to be tolerant and patient when experiments or interpretations do not turn out as you had predicted. You must be able to stand high levels of frustration.

Can "predict" be used instead?

I'd appreciate your help.

 

[jutfrank]

Yes and yes.

 

[raymondaliasapollyon]

Is there any difference between the two?

Can "have predicted" be used?

 

[jutfrank]

What kind of difference do you have in mind?

The version with had predicted shows a perfective aspect that the past simple version doesn't show.

Yes, have predicted could also be used, also showing a perfective aspect. The present simple predict could also be used.

 

[raymondaliasapollyon]

What's the anchor point for "had predicted" in the original?

 

[raymondaliasapollyon]

Can the past-tense form "predicted" be used as well?

 

[GoesStation]

Can the past-tense form "predicted" be used as well?

I wouldn't. I've been noticing more and more native speakers using the past simple in place of the past perfect, though. It wouldn't surprise me to see it in the quoted sentence.

 

[raymondaliasapollyon]

The quoted example is unlike typical examples of the past perfect, such as "In her final hours, she was unaware that her children had died," where the "had died" has the past-tense predicate "was unaware" as the anchor point.

In the quoted example of the first post, there is no past-tense predicate that could serve as the anchor point for the past-perfect form "had predicted." There is only the present-tense form "experiments do not turn out." If it is the anchor point, I'd expect to see the past-tense predicate "predicted" used. What comes before the present is the past.

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, I see what you're getting at—I'd much prefer a present tense (ideally have predicted but alternatively predict) in the original sentence. I can't see a good reason to use the past perfect here since the whole passage is set in general time.

Where is this sentence from?

 

[raymondaliasapollyon]

It's from Writing Scientific English: A Workbook by Tim Skern.