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The car had still cost Jake 1500 even after the price was reduced.

I am currently learning past perfect and I don't understand why the above sentence (which has no particular context) uses it.

From what I understood, you use past perfect to describe the idea that something occurred before another action in the past.

The price was reduced first, then Jake bought the car, right? Does that violate the rule of past perfect?

Are there more uses to past perfect that are not listed in my book?

StoneyB on hiatus
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bluejimmy
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    Is this a standalone sentence, or is it part of a larger text? The use of Past Perfect often depends on what is said in surrounding sentences. – CowperKettle Dec 11 '15 at 02:13
  • The price was knocked off, but Jake bought the car before that happened. – Schwale Dec 11 '15 at 02:30
  • Because you'd use had cost even without the price being reduced: "The car had cost Jake $1500." We can conclude that the price reduction event has nothing to do with it. In fact, the "event" is the actual purchase transaction. That $1500 dollar cost was paid in the purchase transaction- that's when the car had cost Jake the $1500. – Jim Dec 11 '15 at 02:38
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    We need more context to answer questions like this. –  Dec 11 '15 at 04:22
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    @Subjunctive No - the price was dropped, then the purchase was made. i.e. "Even after discount, the price was still as high as 1500" No further context is required - the phrase as it stands is unambiguous. – Euan M Dec 11 '15 at 05:02
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    Guess we need more context to answer this. – Schwale Dec 11 '15 at 05:03
  • @Subjunctive I dont know what context to give you. It was just a standalone sentence in a worksheet. – bluejimmy Dec 17 '15 at 15:43
  • @EuanM It was a standalone sentence. No further context. So what you said makes sense. But why use Past perfect? – bluejimmy Dec 17 '15 at 15:44
  • See my answer; and the link to the British Council's site – Euan M Dec 18 '15 at 02:48

1 Answers1

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It's using the past perfect as the thing happened in the past, but the thing is also important now, at the time of reporting.

i.e. it is emphasising the current implications of the high cost of the purchase which occurred back in the past.

And for confirmation of this usage of the past perfect, look at the British Council's site (link).

Euan M
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