Tenses/ help

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Tenses/ help
Message from kidda posted on 20-08-2012 at 09:48:52 (D | E | F)
Hello !

Could you help me please?
I have a new problem:
1" jane had prepared a beautiful candlelight dinner"; why is " had prepared " instead of "has prepared"?
2: "my boss was furious" ;why is "was" instead of "has been"?
Thank you for your answers.

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Edited by lucile83 on 20-08-2012 18:57

Re: Tenses/ help from floflor, posted on 20-08-2012 at 10:10:46 (D | E)
Dear kidda,

This time, we will start with sentence number 2: "My boss was furious." WAS is the past tense of the verb TO BE. The fact that you are telling a story (I guess) involves that all the verbs are in past tenses (and not present tenses, like the present perfect "has been"). Moreover, there would be no reason to use a present perfect here: My boss was furious in the past, but now he is not furious anymore (because he forgave me or something like that).
For sentence number 1, I imagine that the sentences that come before and/or after it are in the simple past (or the past continuous). The fact that this one is in the past perfect implies that the action described (preparing a beautiful candlelight dinner) happens before the actions described in the two sentences before and/or after. In addition to that, we do not use the present perfect here beacuse the story is not told in present tenses, but in past tenses.
Here is a rule:
- When an action begins and ends in the past, we use the simple past (sometimes the past continuous).
- When we refer to an action that beginns before the action we have just mentioned, we use the past perfect simple (sometimes the past perfect continuous).

Example: He hoped that his wife had prepared a delicious meal. The fact of "preparing a meal" happens before the fact of "hoping".
Have a nice week!

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Edited by floflor on 20-08-2012 10:11

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