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This is the example of the text which needs to be checked out:

A: Is he a student?

B: Yes, he studies at our university. He worked at our factory before he entered our university. Now he doesn't work.

Thus, I used worked instead of had worked. I did it because the process of working is a habitual, permanent state in the past and now it's not connected with the current situation: Now he doesn't work.

Since it's no longer valid I could use used to work as well as the above variant, but not Past Perfect.

As far as I understand, the process of entering the university is a reference time; some point or may be past time to which he worked at the factory.

So, am I right? Is my understanding of the case correct?

Anthony Voronkov
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  • He is a student at the university now but used to work in a factory. He isn't working there any longer. – TimR Jun 17 '17 at 16:28
  • A prosecutor might ask him: *Did you ever do any factory work before entering the university?* OR *Had you ever done any factory work before entering the university?* the latter only if the prosecutor wished to draw special attention to the chronology, which is already abundantly clear with before. In other words, you can make entering the university a reference time in the past or not. It is not whether it is or isn't one, but whether you wish to make it one. – TimR Jun 17 '17 at 17:17

3 Answers3

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To my ear, "used to" is not well qualified by a before phrase or an until phrase.

Before getting an expensive speeding ticket, he used to drive like a madman. less idiomatic

Before getting an expensive speeding ticket, he drove like a madman. idiomatic

He used to drive like a madman before he got a speeding ticket. less idiomatic

He drove like a madman before he got a speeding ticket. idiomatic

He used to drive like a madman until he got a speeding ticket. less idiomatic

He drove like a madman until he got a speeding ticket. idiomatic

TimR
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You are correct, but it depends on what you want to say. "Now he doesn't work" is disconnected from the previous information so it means, "He's unemployed," and not, "He doesn't work at our factory anymore".

If that's what you mean to say, "used to" is appropriate:

"He used to work at our factory before he entered our university"

I'm a little confused, though, since none of the verbs in your example is past perfect.

Andrew
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Past Perfect is used to tell something which had happened before something specific happened , therefore, Past Perfect should be used here. And Simple Past can only be used (with before / after clauses) if the action in past perfect was completed at a specific time.... e.g......"visited the Taj Mahal once in 1993 before something happened." ..

Prerna Krishna
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