present perfect
- Thread starter Lenka
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Tom: "How long did you stay in Australia?"
Gary: "I actually spent one week in Melbourne, last summer"
Tom: "I have heard that you had never been to Australia before. Did you enjoy it?"
Tom could have said: "I have heard that you had never been to Australia before you went to Melbourne last summer", although it's of course more natural to ask "I've heard it was the first time you went to Australia".
Could a teacher confirm?
FRC
Gary: "I actually spent one week in Melbourne, last summer"
Tom: "I have heard that you had never been to Australia before. Did you enjoy it?"
Tom could have said: "I have heard that you had never been to Australia before you went to Melbourne last summer", although it's of course more natural to ask "I've heard it was the first time you went to Australia".
Could a teacher confirm?
FRC
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The sentence is right, with that context.
The rules about changing tense in indirect speech wouldn't have to apply here because the introductory verb is not in the past tense. If you know that the person has vistied Australia,then the past perfect makes sense because you are referring to a time before the visit. ;-)
The rules about changing tense in indirect speech wouldn't have to apply here because the introductory verb is not in the past tense. If you know that the person has vistied Australia,then the past perfect makes sense because you are referring to a time before the visit. ;-)
Well, I think you can, but you would have to set some kind of context first. Why does the fact that you bought new clothes have a direct bearing on the present? That's what the present perfect would suggest. It seems more natural to refer to this event as something finished, in the past ie. to use the past simple.
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