Please help me to understand grammar, thanks!
I wrote a diary on italki yesterday, and there are some problems, which were corrected by the kind persons, to confuse me.Please help me to understand the reason of correction.Thanks!
1.original sentence:Today, my colleague who had been to Japan gave me a gift, Deco Latte Sheet.
Corrected sentence:Today, my colleague who has just been to Japan, gave me a gift; Deco Latte Sheet.
Q:Why use has instead of had? I used past prefer tense because I thought my colleague traveled before she gave me a gift.
And why use";" instead of "," behind the gift?
2.original sentence:After I drank it, I think it is tasteless.
Corrected sentence:After I drank it, I thought it was a little bland.
Q:Why does this sentence need to use past simple tense?I used present sentence because I wanted to express the sense was permanent for me.The present simple tense is used to express the habits, unchanging situations, general truths, and fixed arrangements, isn't it?

Question

Please help me to understand grammar, thanks!
I wrote a diary on italki yesterday, and there are some problems, which were corrected by the kind persons, to confuse me.Please help me to understand the reason of correction.Thanks!
1.original sentence:Today, my colleague who had been to Japan gave me a gift, Deco Latte Sheet. 
Corrected sentence:Today, my colleague who has just been to Japan, gave me a gift; Deco Latte Sheet.
Q:Why use has instead of had? I used past prefer tense because I thought my colleague traveled before she gave me a gift.
And why use";" instead of "," behind the gift?
2.original sentence:After I drank it, I think it is tasteless.
Corrected sentence:After I drank it, I thought it was a little bland.
Q:Why does this sentence need to use past simple tense?I used present sentence because I wanted to express the sense was permanent for me.The present simple tense is used to express the habits, unchanging situations, general truths, and fixed arrangements, isn't it?

Answer

1."Had" is OK.  There was no need to correct you.  "Today" implies a past time, earlier today.  So past perfect refers to before that time.  If "today" referred to now, then present perfect would be correct.

";" is wrong.  "," is correct followed by "a Deco Latte Sheet."  We need an "a" because sheets are countable.

2. "tasteless" is good and didn't need to be corrected.  In narratives, "after" is used in past sequences. "After I did x, I did y, and then I did z."

If we want to shift the narrative from a past simple event to a present simple fact, we cannot use a phrase with "after".  In your case, you could have said: "(After) having drunk it, I (now) think it is tasteless."  However, it would be much more natural to say: "When I drank it, I thought it was tasteless."

Sometimes, people edit Notebook entries for style as well as accuracy.  I recommend that you ask people to correct only clear mistakes, if that is what you want.  You could also kindly ask the "correcter" to explain anything you don't understand.

Answers · 2

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