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useless
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Differences between these sentences?



 
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ESL Forums | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
Did you have a great time? vs Have you had a great time? | SOS! Help me (usage of suitable prepositions)
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Differences between these sentences? Fri Dec 21, 2007 17:26 pm  Differences between these sentences?		  
I'm pretty fluent when it comes to English but I have some difficulties with the differences in meaning when using certain time tenses.
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For an example, could you elaborate the difference?
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I came home only to find out she had hidden my wallet.
I came home only to find out she has hidden my wallet.
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I felt much better after I drank some coffee.
I felt much better after I had drunk some coffee.
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We were going to the beach and I had suggested we took our slippers.
We were going to the beach and I suggested we took our slippers.
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I hadn't thought of this when I submitted this review.
I didn't think of this when I submitted this review.
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Thanks in advance.
GeoTop
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Joined: 31 May 2007
Posts: 10
Differences between these sentences? Sat Dec 22, 2007 4:32 am  Differences between these sentences?		  
GeoTop wrote:
For an example, could you elaborate the difference?
----
I came home only to find out she had hidden my wallet. OK
I came home only to find out she has hidden my wallet. The present perfect doesn't work well with the simple past tense in the beginning of the sentence. The past perfect is logical since it places "hide my wallet" at a point further in the past than "come home". Also keep in mind that the present perfect is very connected with the present and the word 'came' very clearly establishes the action in the sentence as in the past.
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I felt much better after I drank some coffee. OK
I felt much better after I had drunk some coffee. OK, but the past perfect really isn't necessary since the order of the past events is made clear by the word 'after'.
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We were going to the beach and I had suggested we took our slippers.
We were going to the beach and I suggested we took our slippers.
In both sentences above, I would replace 'took' with 'take' (subjunctive) OR simply replace "we took" with "taking".

- We were going to the beach and I had suggested taking/we take our slippers. => This sentence suggests to me that the speaker is referring to a past time during which he was on his way to the beach and that he made his suggestion before they left for the beach.

- We were going to the beach and I suggested taking/we take our slippers.=> This sounds like a reference to a past plan (i.e. refers to the time before they left for the beach; going to the beach was still only an intention/plan) and the suggestion to "take our slippers" was made at some point during the planning of the trip.
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I hadn't thought of this when I submitted this review.
I didn't think of this when I submitted this review.

I don't like the use of 'this' twice in the sentence. I would suggest either changing the first 'this' to 'that' OR changing the second 'this' to 'the'.

There isn't too much difference between the past perfect and the past simple in this case, but there is a small difference:

- I hadn't thought of this when I submitted this review.=> I didn't think of this before I submitted...

- I didn't think of this when I submitted this review.=> I didn't think of this at the time when I submitted...


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Hi GeoTop
I've made some suggestions/comments in blue inside the quote.
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Did you have a great time? vs Have you had a great time? | SOS! Help me (usage of suitable prepositions)
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