awkward sentences help needed

[ostap77]

uh oh. we are getting into two completely different discussions here, and it's becoming difficult to follow.. I suggest that if anybody wishes to continue the none of us is getting... discussion, they open a new thread, and give a link in this thread.

I would appreciate you comment on the post "we can not begin....."?

 

[5jj]

I would appreciate your comment on the post "we can not begin....."?

It is helpful if you can give the post number, in this case #17.
I will try to respond soon, if nobody else has done so in the meantime.

 

[ostap77]

It is helpful if you can give the post number, in this case #17.
I will try to respond soon, if nobody else has done so in the meantime.

Sorry! Guess it's #18 counting my first one.

 

[5jj]

Sorry! Guess it's #18 counting my first one.

No. Look at the number at the top right-hand corner of your post as it appears after you have submitted it. This post for example is #24 (though I had to submit it and then look before I could be sure. I filled in the number by editing my post.)

 

[ostap77]

No. Look at the number at the top right-hand corner of your post as it appears after you have submitted it. This post for example is #24 (though I had to submit it and then look before I could be sure. I filled in the number by editing my post.)

Than it # 17. Well, possible?

 

[e2e4]

No.

You are confusing things slightly.

The tense in the dependent clause may be affected by the tense in the main clause. The reverse is not true.

So, whether we say I have seen her, I had seen her or I saw her will be influenced by whether we say It is so long, It has been so long, It was so long or It had been so long.

The primary task, therefore, is to establish the tense in the main clause.

The past perfect is appropriate in the main clause only if there is a reference (implied or expressed) to a subsequent time period or starting point. It is thus appropriate in:

I was delighted to see Joan. It had been so long since...

Only when we have established that, can we think about the tense in the dependent clause.

All of this is pretty important to me. I need additional explanation
Are you trying to say this

1. It had been so long since I had seen her so that I didn't recognise her. (Not correct. Please explain why this way isn't correct if so.)
2. I didn't recognise her because it had been so long since I had seen her.( Correct)

:?:

In #1 "..so that I didn't recognise her." refers to the past. Because of that I used "It had been..since I had seen.."
In#2 "I didn't recognise her" refers to the past. Because of that I used "it had been...since I had seen.."

 

[e2e4]

/A learner/

We can not begin with the past simple and continue with the past perfect, right ? I think, we can, you did it in #1.

But we may begin with the past perfect and go on with the past simple as in (Usually we do not start with the past perfect if we didn't refer to the past in previous sentence and want to tell that this action happened in the deep past before either the action or event which happened in the past.)

1. "He told me he'd been to many countries, having visited different towns and seen many people."??? Here you started with the simple past (he told me). I think we usually start with the simple past and use the past perfect if need be, only. (If we should mention that some action happened in the deep past. You continued with the past perfect what is correct and also you should have used the perfect participle "having visited and seen")

"It had been a long time since I last saw her,(.) (in my opinion this is not correct, "I last had seen her" must have been used as a correct adverb of time for the first clause because the past perfect refers to the deep past and the simple past tense doesn't.)and If someone hadn't mentioned her name I think I would have hardly recognized her." There is a chance that someone might have said that because when we speak we can't construct our phrases completely in advance.???I don't understand this final sentence

I've told my opinion to Ostap but I want that one of the teachers let me know am I wrong with my seeing this matter.
That could be the very best way of learning the grammar for both of us.

 

[5jj]

All of this is pretty important to me. I need additional explanation
Are you trying to say this

1. It had been so long since I had seen her so that I didn't recognise her. (Not correct. Please explain why this way isn't correct if so.) No. I hope I din't suggest that that was incorrect. It is perfectly acceptable in the right context.
2. I didn't recognise her because it had been so long since I had seen her.( Correct) It is perfectly acceptable in the right context.

:?:

In #1 "..so that I didn't recognise her." refers to the past. Because of that I used "It had been..since I had seen.."
In#2 "I didn't recognise her" refers to the past. Because of that I used "it had been...since I had seen.."

I think that part of the problem is the length of this thread, and the number of different issues that have been raised.

I suggest that you start a fresh thread with the title 'Past Perfect Problems'. Think about ONE aspect of what we have discussed that still puzzles you, and make that the first post in the new thread.

I will keep an eye out for that thread - or send me a PM to tell me that you have started it. Other people may join in helpfully, but nobody will be confused by the 28 posts that have gone before.

 

[ostap77]

/A learner/

The roots are here I think.

Please look at this sentence below

It is so long since I have seen her. It doesn't mean for me It has been so long since I saw her.

But the sentence

It is so long since I have not seen her. = It has been so long since I saw her. (the same meaning)

Because of this I prefer

It had been so long since I had seen her'.

In this sentence I had seen her is not the deep past for I have seen her but for I saw her.
So that in the first part must be It had been so long..

It had been so long since I had seen her so that I didn't recognise her.

Dear me! :roll:

I am really sorry but I, at the moment, see this this way.

In my humble opinion it should have been "matters to me" not "for me";-)