Which one of the following is right grammatically
1.He was an accomplished dressmaker who won many awards for his designs.
2.He was an accomplished dressmaker who had won many awards for his designs.
And Why? I am learning English and confused by the tenses at times.
2007-06-08 11:49:32 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
Well, instead of *just* answering the question....
"had" as a helping verb is the marker of the pluperfect tense.
The pluperfect tense is the "past of the past" tense.
So, something happened before something else in the past.
Before I went to school, I HAD eaten breakfast.
I'd go with the second one, because he won many awards and then became accomplished because of them.
2007-06-08 11:55:13 · answer #1 · answered by davieboy104 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unless he's dead, the correct answer is, "He IS an accomplished dressmaker who HAS won many awards for his designs."
"Has won" indicates that it happened in the past and that it isn't really the focus of the sentence. In this case, you're not just dying to tell me that this guy won the awards; you're using the awards to demonstrate to me that this guy is an accomplished dressmaker.
If you're writing his obituary, or a piece of fiction in which everything is past tense, then "He was an accomplished dressmaker who had won many awards" would be correct.
2007-06-08 19:02:13 · answer #2 · answered by thunderpigeon 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
2.He was an accomplished dressmaker who had won many awards for his designs.
While the other sentence is less wordy, this one avoids awkwardness.
2007-06-08 18:53:39 · answer #3 · answered by Heather 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
2 is technically correct. however, no one in the u.s. would pay attention!
In the first sentence, "had" is simply implied. But for learning english, you should know that the second sentence is correct.
If you can ask the question using 'had', you can answer using it.
Had he won awards? Yes, he HAD won many awards.
2007-06-08 18:55:51 · answer #4 · answered by FIGJAM 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
#2 is the correct answer. The narration is made in the past ("he was..."); the winning took place before that time, and it is not a sequence of actions (e.g. He got up, took a shower, had breakfast), so the Past Perfect should be used.
2007-06-08 18:57:08 · answer #5 · answered by Patrick S 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When in doubt, simplify. The first sentence is correct.
2007-06-08 18:52:56 · answer #6 · answered by boogeywoogy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just to point out, in your question, you asked:
Which one is right?
It would be sufficient to write "Which is right"?
The word 'one' is implied, obviously.
2007-06-08 20:08:43 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋