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#2 (permalink) Mon Dec 22, 2008 5:56 am Simple past or perfect past? Did you eat anything before you went to the theater? |
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Did you eat anything before you went to the theater? This is correct because to eat is an act that doing and it end |
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Hoda New Member
Joined: 27 Oct 2008 Posts: 5
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#3 (permalink) Fri Dec 26, 2008 1:46 am Simple past or perfect past? Did you eat anything before you went to the thea |
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| Hoda wrote: |
Did you eat anything before you went to the theater? This is correct because to eat is an act that doing and it end |
But one action had to be finished before a second one started (perfect past), although, using simple past does not look out of place (at least for me) that is why I want to make sure. I appreciate your input.
God bless you. Cisco. _________________ Please, always correct me if I have made any kind of mistakes in my posts. |
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Cisco795 I'm here quite often ;-)

Joined: 31 Aug 2008 Posts: 118 Location: Mèxico
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#4 (permalink) Fri Dec 26, 2008 12:13 pm Simple past or perfect past? Did you eat anything before you went to the theater? |
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Either one is correct, depending on the context.
If the person is in the middle of telling a story that took place in the past (for example, when explaining something to the doctor or to the police), it would be most appropriate to ask, "Had you eaten anything before you went to the theatre?" but informally we might also say, "Did you eat anything before you went to the theater?"
If we have met someone at the theater -- so we are at theater now -- we would probably say, "Did you eat anything before you came to the theater?" We might say this before inviting someone to a restaurant or to our home to eat. |
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Jamie (K) I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 5334 Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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#5 (permalink) Fri Dec 26, 2008 12:47 pm Simple past or perfect past? Did you eat anything before you went to the thea |
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Awesome!
Thanks a lot Jamie (K).
God bless you. Cisco. _________________ Please, always correct me if I have made any kind of mistakes in my posts. |
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Cisco795 I'm here quite often ;-)

Joined: 31 Aug 2008 Posts: 118 Location: Mèxico
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