Question

Hello,
I'm stuck with a sentence!Is "He had been living in London since he had left Cambridge " correct?
Thank you !

The correct sentence is:
<b>He had been living in London since he left Cambridge.</b>

Thank you very much Ms Sue!
Could you please explain why it is impossible to have"since he had left"?


The auxiliary verb "had" indicates a past time earlier than the other verb in the sentence. It won't make sense to have both of them with the auxiliary "had"!

It would have another meaning if you wrote this: He has been living in London since he had left Cambridge.
(He lived in Cambridge, then left and has lived in London ever since.)

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/auxiliary.htm
Scroll down to <b>Uses of <i>Have, Has</i> and <i>Had</i></b>.

=)

Okay, thank you Writeacher, it is starting to make sense...Would it be correc though to have "He had lived in London since he left Cambridge"? or maybe "He lived in London since he had left Cambridge" (He lived in Cambridge then moved to London) ... But then I know that "He lived" is wrong...
Still a bit blurry...
Thank you very much!

He <b>lived</b> there -- past tense, means he lived there in the past, but that time is over and now he lives somewhere else.

He <b>has lived</b> there -- present perfect tense, means that he lived there in the past and still does.

He <b>had lived</b> there -- past perfect tense, means he lived there before he lived somewhere else.

In your latest example sentence -- "He lived in London since he had left Cambridge" -- you are saying he doesn't live in either London or Cambridge anymore! Is that what you mean?

??

Hello and thanks a lot for explaining all the differences between the tenses!
I am much grateful!
I just wanted to know if the sentence was correct but couldn't find the meaning on my own.
Thanks again !!!:)))

Answer 1

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