Now we're getting someplace! Thanks, Brad! (I know - too many exclamation marks - my bad!).  Does everybody agree with Brad's evaluation? I certainly can see the point he's making. The larger problem, and my guess is that this is what prompts your zeal, is that the choice of tense changes the meaning.  
 
Brad - will you discuss this issue at greater length? I'm hearing students ask, "Ok, so it should be past instead of past perfect, but so what? Who cares? Everybody knows what I mean!" I'm also seeing a discussion that goes beyond the past perfect versus the past tense and extends to other tense problems in English - how do we know/teach what tense to use? I detest the "linking verb/helping verb" definitions - they equal "a sentence expresses a complete thought" in terms of their usefulness. I prefer the designation "tense indicators."
 
And even beyond that, is there a tendency to be lax about (ignorant of?) tense indicators altogether. Perhaps Ebonics solves all of our problems - the tense is contained in the context of the sentence so it don't matter none what darned tense we be usin'.

Geoff Layton
 
PS: But other than this problem, I'm sure that the $56 is money well spent (well, maybe not). 
 
PPS: To Marshall - Would this be a good book to review?
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2011 12:06:50 -0700
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Exhibit #126, Grammar for Teachers
To: [log in to unmask]

Grammar for Teachers, Andrea DeCapua, c.2008. Available at Amazon for $56.
(Dr. Andrea DeCapua is Associate Professor of 
Multilingual, Multicultural Studies in the Graduate School at The College of New 
Rochelle.) 
Section 5: Perfect 
Underline the past perfect verb phrases
 
A.  Forty-eight thousand dollars was still a lot of money. More than he <had> ever had in his life. And since he <had> never intended to split it with Earl, it was all his. But his bad luck <hadn't stopped> didn't stop there. Earlier today, he
 <had> learned through
 Rose's cousin in Toledo that Arturo Garcia <had> showed up at her house, put a knife to her throat and demanded to know where Ian was. Marie, who was afraid of her own shadow, <had> claimed to have had no choice but to tell him the truth.  (C. Heggan, c.2003, Deadly Intent, page 95, Ontario: Mira.) 
B.  Her rounds finished, Abbie returned to the kitchen, feeling much more relaxed than she <had been> was twenty minutes earlier. Agonizing over a man who <had> apparently vanished was stupid and nerve-racking. Whoever <had> attacked her was gone, and so was Ian.  (Ibid, page 164.)
~~~~~~~ 
Eleven 'had's in A & B above. Nine wrong, two right. (No past perfects) Error rate: 82%. In a grammar text.
Look at the title. It's a book written for you, Grammar
 Teachers. It's been out for three years but who has complained? Who has said, "Wait a minute; that's not right"? 

Geoffrey said, "State your case". Is this better, Geoff?
.br-had.02aug11.
"You can't make a past tense
 verb into a past perfect verb by putting 'had' in front of it."..
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