1

I think these are correct.

1 I have worked in this job longer than I have ever worked in any other job.

2 I have worked in this job longer than I had ever worked in any other job before.

3 I have worked in this job longer than I ever worked in any other job before.

I think this wrong

4 I have worked in this job longer than I have ever worked in any other job before.

Do you agree?

user1425
  • 4,410
  • 11
  • 49
  • 74
  • 1
    (2) is incorrect, (4) is OK. – Kate Bunting Dec 18 '23 at 09:51
  • I thought that "before" shows that the current period, during which the speaker has worked, is not part of the experience which took place BEFORE it. Go figure! – user1425 Dec 18 '23 at 10:03
  • A native speaker will hear #4 as grammatical or ungrammatical according to how they understand before, since before can be understood as "before now" (thus involving the present) or "in the past" (thus excluding the present). – TimR on some device Dec 18 '23 at 15:32

1 Answers1

2

(2) doesn't work because the tenses don't match.

(1), (3) and (4) are all valid sentences. Before means 'before my present job'. Strictly speaking it isn't necessary, because ever conveys the meaning 'at any time in the past' - but the combination ever before is often used for emphasis.

Kate Bunting
  • 54,408
  • 4
  • 69
  • 110
  • Thank you! I thought 2 to mean "I have worked in this job longer than I had ever worked in any other job before I started working here". – user1425 Dec 18 '23 at 13:15
  • 1
    "I have worked here longer than I have ever worked..." or, if you have left that job "I had worked there longer than I had ever worked..." – Kate Bunting Dec 18 '23 at 14:48
  • @KateBunting why do the tenses have to match? What if I wanted to compare the length of work between two different timelines? – Edmond Kirsch Dec 19 '23 at 03:47
  • The perfect tense refers to a past event in relation to a later, but still past, event. So you could say "Before starting work here, I had worked for four other companies." – Kate Bunting Dec 19 '23 at 08:46