Comments on: Past tenses in English

By: Clare

Clare — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 06:54:08 +0000

"Yesterday a very strange thing happened" is correct. When you talk about the past, use the simple past. Only use the past perfect if there are two events in the past and you want to show which one happened before the other.

By: jeanny

jeanny — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 17:36:30 +0000

Hi Clare,
Yesterday a very strange thing happened or had happened.
which is correct? it is used in a passage, and not a single sentence. thanks for your help.

By: Clare

Clare — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:09:35 +0000

I'd say that the first sentence is correct. "He was carrying…" is the background. It describes a continuous event (i.e. he carried the gun for more than a second or so.)

By: José Luis Echegaray

José Luis Echegaray — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:38:30 +0000

Hello Clare
Which of the following 2 sentences is correct ?

He was carrying a gun and was very angry.

He carried a gun and was very angry.

many thanks

JOSE LUIS

By: Clare

Clare — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:34:01 +0000

I'd use the past continuous in 3, because he's recounting the background to the event (taking a trip to Hawaii is the background to the dream).

If you used the past simple, then you'd be giving the chronology of the event:

We took a trip to Hawaii. Then we returned to the US…