I agree with Brad's insertion of past perfect into the quoted  
paragraph. It seems to me that, in general, use of perfect tenses is  
slowly declining, although this is a completely subjective  
impression. I hear students say things like "I ate lunch already"  
instead of "I have eaten lunch already,"  indicating decline in use  
of the present perfect as well as the past perfect. Maybe there has  
always been variation in these uses, maybe not. Perhaps Herb can  
enlighten us on this point.

Dr. Johanna Rubba, Ph. D.
Associate Professor, Linguistics
Linguistics Minor Advisor
English Dept.
Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Ofc. tel. : 805-756-2184
Dept. tel.: 805-756-2596
Dept. fax: 805-756-6374
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba

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