One: London is the first foreign city I have been to.
Two: London was the first foreign city I have been to.
Three: London was the first foreign city I had been to.
2006-07-08 20:08:10 · 10 answers · asked by donotmisstony 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
One and three are correct. One is a general, present statement. Three is used in reported speech ("I told him that London was the first foreign city I had been to"), or if the general conversation was set in the past ("Before I turned thirty, I hadn't been exposed to much of the outside world. London was the first foreign city I had been to.").
Ignore the "you can't end a sentence with a preposition"--this is a carryover rule from Latin that does not apply to English.
2006-07-09 06:18:39 · answer #1 · answered by JP 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
None! You can't END the sentence with a preposition... unless you are from Ohio!
Should be: London was the first foreign city to which I had been.
2006-07-09 03:11:38 · answer #2 · answered by snodrift777 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
actually none of them would fit proper grammar because they end in a preposition.
The first foreign city I went to was London.
2006-07-09 03:14:19 · answer #3 · answered by Mickey L 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Three---
if you are talking about going to London in the past,
One-- IF:
you are talking about going to London in the present tense i.e. you are in London right now as you speak.
go with Three if you are saying you went to London in the past.
but if you are talking about London in the present tense use One
though, they do end in prepositions, The first foreign city i had ever been to was London.-- is passive
2006-07-09 03:14:58 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
One and three are correct (they keep the parallel verb tense), but have slightly different nuances.
If you're presently in London, you would say the first one.
If you're no longer in London and are talking about in the past, then you would say three.
2006-07-09 03:13:24 · answer #5 · answered by Lao Polyglot 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
colloquially, all are correct, depending on how you use them.
London is the first foreign city I have visited.
London was the first foreign city I visited.
easier.
2006-07-09 03:12:50 · answer #6 · answered by leadbelly 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Context of the statement would determine the proper form to use.
2006-07-09 03:34:31 · answer #7 · answered by de bossy one 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
None of these, since you went to Paris first....
2006-07-09 03:12:48 · answer #8 · answered by Rob W 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
all three are correct
2006-07-09 03:11:54 · answer #9 · answered by laurabelle o 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
none
snodrift is right
2006-07-09 03:13:43 · answer #10 · answered by tin knocker al 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋