Is it better to use simple past or present perfect for a future event?

Question

If any man hurts my daughter, I will hurt him as much as he has hurt her

Could it be past simple as at the time of writing the hurting if there was one, it would be finished and hopefully would not happen again . But what bother me is that all verbs in this sentence relate to present or future so may be present perfect is a better choice

If any man hurts my daughter, I will hurt him as much as he hurt her

score -3 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 10 '19 at 22:01

-3

Your own suggestion sounds good to me:

If any man hurts my daughter, I will hurt him as much as he hurt her.

It seems grammatically correct, and flows well.

edited Aug 10 '19 at 22:01

J.R.

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answered Aug 10 '19 at 12:10

Alan

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This does not provide an answer to the question. Once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post; instead, provide answers that don't require clarification from the asker. - From Review – choster Aug 10 '19 at 13:26
In what way does it not answer the question? They asked which was better, and I said which was better? Please advise what would be a better answer. Just shooting it down without giving any explanation or providing an improvement isn't very helpful to people starting out. – Alan Aug 11 '19 at 12:38
Welcome to Stack Exchange. SE strives to provide definitive answers, and as such, a response is not an answer unless it provides an explanation of the why, not just the what, with appropriate explanation, examples, and references. I strongly encourage you to take the site [tour] and review the [help] for additional guidance. For a couple of well-regarded answers on the past perfect consider those provided for When is the past perfect exactly needed?. – choster Aug 11 '19 at 16:17

Is it better to use simple past or present perfect for a future event?

1 Answers1