We fired anyway. The rain had stopped by 10AM.
This means that the firing of the kiln occurred at or after 10
a.m., by which time there was no rain falling.
We fired anyway. The rain stopped by 10AM.
This means that the firing of the kiln was not stopped by the occurrence
or non-occurrence of the rain, which possibly continued even after that event.
Before 10 a.m. the rain stopped, regardless of whether the kiln had been fired
before that, of course. It is possible that the sentence is elliptical in
one of several ways. Perhaps it was intended to mean the same as the
first sentence. Perhaps it was meant as: “We fired anyway because
the rain stopped by 10 a.m.” In this case the “tense”
may be inferred. My impression is that some people can train themselves
to always infer “perfect” whenever possible, thus not having a use
for the “past perfect” form explicitly very much at all. Taking
a sentence out of context may encourage this kind of interpretation.
From: Assembly for the
Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brad
Johnston
Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 7:33 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: The rain in Spain stays mainly
|
Brad: I neglected to ask what happens
when it rains on firing day.
(The man has a wood-fired kiln, which he loaded on
Saturday and intended to "fire up" on Sunday. It rained on
Sunday.) ~~~~~ What does this sentence mean: The
rain stopped by 10AM? What does this sentence mean: The rain
had stopped by 10AM? |
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