sitifan
Senior Member
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2006
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- Taiwan
- Current Location
- Taiwan
1. When I had put the cat out, I locked the door and went to bed.
2. *When I put the cat out, I locked the door and went to bed. (incorrect)
Source: Ting-Chi Tang, A Guide to Teaching Junior High School English, p254.
(My bold.)
3. When Dick left school, he worked for several years in a zoo.
Source: A. S. Hornby, Guide to Patterns and Usage in English, 2nd Edition. (Cited by Ting-Chi Tang in English Question Box: An Introduction to Linguistic Analysis of English, p207.)
(My bold.)
4. When Dick had left school, he worked for several years in a zoo.
Source: My own sentence.
(My bold.)
For #2 and #3, the tense in the when-clause is simple past. How come #2 is incorrect but #3 is correct? Is #4 acceptable to native speakers?
2. *When I put the cat out, I locked the door and went to bed. (incorrect)
Source: Ting-Chi Tang, A Guide to Teaching Junior High School English, p254.
(My bold.)
3. When Dick left school, he worked for several years in a zoo.
Source: A. S. Hornby, Guide to Patterns and Usage in English, 2nd Edition. (Cited by Ting-Chi Tang in English Question Box: An Introduction to Linguistic Analysis of English, p207.)
(My bold.)
4. When Dick had left school, he worked for several years in a zoo.
Source: My own sentence.
(My bold.)
For #2 and #3, the tense in the when-clause is simple past. How come #2 is incorrect but #3 is correct? Is #4 acceptable to native speakers?
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