[Grammar] Past perfect tense in since-clause

[joseph0928]

Hi,

I would like to know whether the following sentence is correct.

[FONT=&quot]I [/FONT]had been[FONT=&quot] feeling sick [/FONT]since[FONT=&quot] I [/FONT]ate[FONT=&quot] that cake.[/FONT]

It seems incorrect to me because the past perfect tense should happen earlier than the simple past tense. So, I think the correct sentence should be:

[FONT=&quot]I [/FONT]had been[FONT=&quot] feeling sick [/FONT]since[FONT=&quot] I had eaten[/FONT][FONT=&quot] that cake.
[/FONT]
Or

[FONT=&quot]I felt[/FONT][FONT=&quot] sick [/FONT]since[FONT=&quot] I had eaten[/FONT][FONT=&quot] that cake.

[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT][FONT=&quot]Thank you[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[tedmc]

No, the original sentence is correct.

There is no rule to say that the simple past tense should precede the past perfect tense. The simple past is used as a time marker in the sentence after which something happened over a period of time.

 

[joseph0928]

Hi,

How about the other two sentences ? Are they both correct ?

I had been feeling sick since I had eaten that cake.

I felt sick since I had eaten that cake.

 

[tedmc]

They are not wrong but we generally do not use the past perfect tense when the past tense suffices.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi.

How about the other two sentences? Are they both correct?

1. I had been feeling sick since I had eaten that cake. :cross:
2. I felt sick since I had eaten that cake. :cross:

1. I had been feeling sick since eating that cake.
2. I felt sick after I ate that cake.

Don't use "since" after the past simple.

Note my corrections above. Don't put a space before a full stop, and please number sentences you give as examples so that it's easier for us to refer to them in our responses.

 

[joseph0928]

Hi,

Thank you. Your explanation helps a lot.
I have one more question here. I've found this sentence on the website of Economist. Please refer to the link here for the 2nd paragraph. (A readymade sensation)

It had been 30 years since Duchamp had taken a porcelain urinal and called it art.

Is this sentence OK, or it should be better to replace "since" with "after"?

 

[emsr2d2]

It's correct. Using "after" would be wrong.