previously was/had been
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So I asked a question that I knew I had asked a long time ago and actually made me think...
"Am I the only one whose program went back to how it previously was or not?"
The aforementioned quotation was my question and I started thinking if it should be "how it previously had been" since there are two actions in the sentence. One of which, "went back to", preceding the other one, meaning one action comes before the other, so perhaps should have put the past perfect tense to use?
grammar tenses past-tense present-tense perfect-aspect
edited 2 days ago
Rupert Morrish
1,67821016
asked Nov 13 at 20:33
George G.
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So I asked a question that I knew I had asked a long time ago and actually made me think...
"Am I the only one whose program went back to how it previously was or not?"
The aforementioned quotation was my question and I started thinking if it should be "how it previously had been" since there are two actions in the sentence. One of which, "went back to", preceding the other one, meaning one action comes before the other, so perhaps should have put the past perfect tense to use?
grammar tenses past-tense present-tense perfect-aspect
edited 2 days ago
Rupert Morrish
1,67821016
asked Nov 13 at 20:33
George G.
31
New contributor
George G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
up vote
0
down vote
favorite
So I asked a question that I knew I had asked a long time ago and actually made me think...
"Am I the only one whose program went back to how it previously was or not?"
The aforementioned quotation was my question and I started thinking if it should be "how it previously had been" since there are two actions in the sentence. One of which, "went back to", preceding the other one, meaning one action comes before the other, so perhaps should have put the past perfect tense to use?
grammar tenses past-tense present-tense perfect-aspect
edited 2 days ago
Rupert Morrish
1,67821016
asked Nov 13 at 20:33
George G.
31
New contributor
George G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
So I asked a question that I knew I had asked a long time ago and actually made me think...
"Am I the only one whose program went back to how it previously was or not?"
The aforementioned quotation was my question and I started thinking if it should be "how it previously had been" since there are two actions in the sentence. One of which, "went back to", preceding the other one, meaning one action comes before the other, so perhaps should have put the past perfect tense to use?
grammar tenses past-tense present-tense perfect-aspect
grammar tenses past-tense present-tense perfect-aspect
edited 2 days ago
Rupert Morrish
1,67821016
asked Nov 13 at 20:33
George G.
31
New contributor
George G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 2 days ago
Rupert Morrish
1,67821016
asked Nov 13 at 20:33
George G.
31
New contributor
George G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 2 days ago
Rupert Morrish
1,67821016
edited 2 days ago
Rupert Morrish
1,67821016
edited 2 days ago
Rupert Morrish
1,67821016
1,67821016
asked Nov 13 at 20:33
George G.
31
New contributor
George G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked Nov 13 at 20:33
George G.
31
asked Nov 13 at 20:33
George G.
31
31
New contributor
George G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
George G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
George G. is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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add a comment |
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1 Answer
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There is not much difference in either expression.
The subtle difference is this:
‘was’ - the system went back to how it ‘was’ - has more of the sense of how the system ‘was’ - ‘in a single moment of time’. For example ‘the system went back to how it was last Wednesday at 3pm’.
‘had been’ - the system went back to ‘how it had been’ - for a continuous length of time - for example “the system went back to ‘how it had been’ in ‘Release 3.1’ - which had been active and installed from April 2016 until July 2018.”
answered 2 days ago
Jelila
2,6331214
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
There is not much difference in either expression.
The subtle difference is this:
‘was’ - the system went back to how it ‘was’ - has more of the sense of how the system ‘was’ - ‘in a single moment of time’. For example ‘the system went back to how it was last Wednesday at 3pm’.
‘had been’ - the system went back to ‘how it had been’ - for a continuous length of time - for example “the system went back to ‘how it had been’ in ‘Release 3.1’ - which had been active and installed from April 2016 until July 2018.”
answered 2 days ago
Jelila
2,6331214
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
There is not much difference in either expression.
The subtle difference is this:
‘was’ - the system went back to how it ‘was’ - has more of the sense of how the system ‘was’ - ‘in a single moment of time’. For example ‘the system went back to how it was last Wednesday at 3pm’.
‘had been’ - the system went back to ‘how it had been’ - for a continuous length of time - for example “the system went back to ‘how it had been’ in ‘Release 3.1’ - which had been active and installed from April 2016 until July 2018.”
answered 2 days ago
Jelila
2,6331214
add a comment |
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
up vote
0
down vote
accepted
There is not much difference in either expression.
The subtle difference is this:
‘was’ - the system went back to how it ‘was’ - has more of the sense of how the system ‘was’ - ‘in a single moment of time’. For example ‘the system went back to how it was last Wednesday at 3pm’.
‘had been’ - the system went back to ‘how it had been’ - for a continuous length of time - for example “the system went back to ‘how it had been’ in ‘Release 3.1’ - which had been active and installed from April 2016 until July 2018.”
answered 2 days ago
Jelila
2,6331214
There is not much difference in either expression.
The subtle difference is this:
‘was’ - the system went back to how it ‘was’ - has more of the sense of how the system ‘was’ - ‘in a single moment of time’. For example ‘the system went back to how it was last Wednesday at 3pm’.
‘had been’ - the system went back to ‘how it had been’ - for a continuous length of time - for example “the system went back to ‘how it had been’ in ‘Release 3.1’ - which had been active and installed from April 2016 until July 2018.”
answered 2 days ago
Jelila
2,6331214
answered 2 days ago
Jelila
2,6331214
answered 2 days ago
Jelila
2,6331214
answered 2 days ago
Jelila
2,6331214
2,6331214
add a comment |
add a comment |
George G. is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
George G. is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
George G. is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
George G. is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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