About Past Perfect Passive Voice
Yesterday I wrote a small entry in which I tried to use Past Perfect Passive. There is this sentence: I got on a train who had been called "the Swallow'".
After that I got a correction in which "who had been called" was corrected to "which was called".
Concerning "who - which", I am completely agree. It's my foolish mistake but with regard to "had been called - was called", I am still not sure because I meant that this train was called "the Swallow" before than I got on this train.
Please help to resolve this little question. Thanks in advance :)
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Answers · 5
1
Hello Dmitry,
The past perfect can cause some problems. We use it when we talk about a completed action which happens before an action in the past but has an effect in the more recent time.
The train had been named 'The Swallow' in the past and was still called 'The Swallow' at the point when you got on it so you should use the stative - 'be' in the past simple tense.
Hope this helps
Bob
1
"Had been called" means that the train was called Swallow in the past, but isn't now. "Was called" means that Swallow is still the train's name.
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