Reply
Thu 11 Oct, 2007 12:57 pm
He went/had gone to bed by nine o'clock last night.
He went/had gone to bed at nine o'clock last night.
Which verbs should I use?
Thanks.
Probably either but, the second one sounds better.
"He went to bed at nine o'clock last night."
by & at don't have the same meaning though.
TTH wrote:Probably either but, the second one sounds better.
"He went to bed at nine o'clock last night."
by & at don't have the same meaning though.
He went/had gone to bed by nine o'clock last night.
The second sentence above has the preposition 'by'. Should I use 'went' or 'had gone'?
Many thanks.
Whether or not you use went or had gone relies upon context, and no one can really answer that without more information from you. If anteriority is an issue, i.e., if what preceeded that sentence were already in the a past tense, and the action of going to bed took place before that, then you would use "had gone."
If he went to bed at nine o'clock, he was not in bed before nine of clock. If he went to bed by nine o'clock, then he may have been in bed before nine o'clock, but did not go to bed any later than nine o'clock. There is a significant difference in the meaning based on the preposition used.
Same answer as before = probably either
"went" or "had gone"
"went" sounds better imo.
Setanta wrote:Whether or not you use went or had gone relies upon context, and no one can really answer that without more information from you. If anteriority is an issue, i.e., if what preceeded that sentence were already in the a past tense, and the action of going to bed took place before that, then you would use "had gone."
If he went to bed at nine o'clock, he was not in bed before nine of clock. If he went to bed by nine o'clock, then he may have been in bed before nine o'clock, but did not go to bed any later than nine o'clock. There is a significant difference in the meaning based on the preposition used.
In that case 'had gone' cannot work in either sentence. Is that what you are telling me?
Many thanks.
No, i am telling you that i cannot answer your question. I will provide an example.
He went to bed at nine o'clock. At one in the morning, he was awakened by a loud noise.
In that case, he went to bed is in the past, and being awakened was in a more recent past, so "went" is the correct verb form.
At one in the morning, he was awakened by a loud noise. He had gone to bed at nine o'clock.
In this case, being awakened took place in the past, but going to bed took place in an earlier, an anterior past. Therefore, you must use "had gone," which in older English grammars would be described as the anterior past.
Which verb form you use can only be determined by the context in which the sentence is found. So, i can't answer your question because i don't know the context.
Thanks, Setanta
He went/had gone to bed by nine o'clock last night.
The second sentence above has the preposition 'by'.
Should I use 'went' or 'had gone'? Or is it the same case as the sentence with 'at'?
Many thanks.
It is the same case as when using the other preposition--i cannot answer your question because i do not know the context. Using "at" is more precise than using "by," but it does not tell me if the sentence represents a simple past or an anterior past.
So, i can't answer.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace