0

It was Kuchela's friendship rather than his friendship that drove him to Krishna's side.

Could it be had driven him?

You told me yesterday.

Could it be had told?

Anubhav
  • 3,471
  • 5
  • 25
  • 55
  • You ask how to choose the "correct" tense, but the perfect is not "incorrect" in either of your sentences. You can use the perfect in both cases. The question is, why do you need to use it? What do you think the perfect expresses that the simple past does not? – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Oct 15 '16 at 04:10
  • Why shouldn't we use it? The sentences in both cases will be synonyms? – Anubhav Oct 15 '16 at 09:36
  • 1
    The question is "Why is it necessary to use the perfect?" A good principle is Don't use Past Perfect unless you really have to. What does "You had told me yesterday" express that is not expressed by just "You told me yesterday"? – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Oct 15 '16 at 18:07
  • 1
    We would only need the past perfect if it were necessary to describe the past event explicitly from the perspective of another time in the past: "Dave realized later that it was Pradeep's friendship rather than his own that had driven him to Oscar the Grouch's side." In your sentence, the simple past is all that is needed. – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Oct 16 '16 at 01:46

0 Answers0