BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem
TTP OnDemand GMAT Video Course
Featured Course

Target Test Prep GMAT OnDemand

Scott Woodbury-Stewart’s private virtual classroom — 400 hours of master-class video lessons for the GMAT Focus Edition.

  • 715+ score guarantee — highest in the industry (99th percentile)
  • 52 chapters · 1,500+ lessons · 4,000+ practice questions
  • 400 hours of video · 1,500+ instructor-led HD smartboard lessons
  • 300,000+ students accepted to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Booth & Sloan & more
  • 24/7 live support + weekly Zoom office hours with GMAT instructors
  • TTP AI Assist — 24/7 AI-powered virtual tutor for instant help
  • 1,200+ flashcards + AI-powered study assistant & daily calendar
  • OnDemand, LiveTeach & GMAT Bootcamp formats available
  • Also: GRE, SAT Math & Executive Assessment courses
  • MBA Admissions Consulting now available
  • 🏆 2025 EdTech Breakthrough Award: Test Prep Solution Provider of the Year
  • 200,000+ students served
  • 5-day free trial — $0 to start, no auto-billing, cancel anytime
★★★★★ 5.0 (559 reviews)
130-pt guarantee
$0 to start then $127/mo
Start Free 5-Day Trial Read 559 Reviews →

Simple Past vs Past Perfect

Expert replies
Post new topic Locked
Previous Topic Next Topic
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 298
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2010 1:09 amFollowed by: 1 member
Thanked: 2 times
by Deepthi Subbu » Sun Jan 09, 2011 9:36 pm
Before John won the lottery , he was a poor man
Before John won the lottery , he had been a poor man

I am confused between using past perfect and simple past .

Since John was a poor man until he won the lottery , and if there are two action that happened in the past (one action before the other ) and if both are related to each other , we are supposed to use past perfect .

But what if there's a time indicator such as before/After which already describes that one action took place before the other -Are we still supposed to go with the past perfect rule?
Last edited by Deepthi Subbu on Sun Jan 09, 2011 10:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Source: — Sentence Correction |
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1077
Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:44 amFollowed by: 33 members
Thanked: 118 times
GMAT Score:710

by bblast » Sun Jan 09, 2011 9:42 pm
IMO here perfect tense is not required as the word before already indicates that one event happened before the other..


If john won, he would.......correct
Before John won, he was.......correct
if john had won, he would have.....correct
If john wins, he will...........correct


hope this helps Deepthi
Cheers !!

Quant 47-Striving for 50
Verbal 34-Striving for 40

My gmat journey :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/710-bblast-s ... 90735.html
My take on the GMAT RC :
https://www.beatthegmat.com/ways-to-bbla ... 90808.html
How to prepare before your MBA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upz46D7 ... TWBZF14TKW_
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 298
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2010 1:09 amFollowed by: 1 member
Thanked: 2 times

by Deepthi Subbu » Sun Jan 09, 2011 10:25 pm
bblast wrote:IMO here perfect tense is not required as the word before already indicates that one event happened before the other..


If john won, he would.......correct
Before John won, he was.......correct
if john had won, he would have.....correct
If john wins, he will...........correct


hope this helps Deepthi
Even I assumed the same and chose the simple past but that's not the correct answer.Here's the explanation -

Before John won the lottery, he was a poor locksmith.

A) won the lottery, he was a poor locksmith.

B) had won the lottery, he was a poor locksmith.

C) won the lottery, he had been a poor locksmith.

D) won the lottery, he were a poor locksmith.

E) wins the lottery, he was a poor locksmith.

This sentence talks about two things in the past, 1 - won the lottery

2 - was a poor locksmith

Since John was a poor locksmith before he won the lottery so the two things are taking place at different time periods.

Hence the thing that took place earlier (was a poor locksmith) will take the past perfect tense 'had' and the thing that

happened later (won) will take the simple past tense 'won'.

Thus the correct answer is C.
Top
Join the discussion
Log in to postLogin with Googleuse password
QUOTE IN REPLY
Post new topic Locked
• Page 1 of 1