I agree with Mike > ---------- > From: MIKE MEDLEY[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Reply To: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar > Sent: Friday, July 16, 1999 2:12 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: about "ago", "before" & "previously" > > "Dick Veit, UNCW English Dept." wrote: > > > For example, if I were to say today, "In 1990, I met the > > person who won the Nobel Prize twenty years ago," it means the person > won > > the > > prize in 1979. If I were to say "In 1990, I met the person who won the > > Nobel Prize twenty years previously," it means the person won the prize > > in > > 1970. > > To make the latter sentence clearer, would it not be better to shift > tense in the relative clause? "...who had won the Nobel Prize > twenty years previously." Without the tense shift, I have a hard > time distinguishing the difference in meaning between the two > sentences. > > Note, however, that the original sentence in Dawei's query does > not include an adverbial of time (like "In 1990") to give a frame of > reference by which to measure the time mentioned in the relative > clause, as your examples do. In the original, without that additional > time adverbial, "ago" seems like the most natural choice. > > > > ********************************************************************** > R. Michael Medley VPH 211 Ph: (712) 737-7047 > Assistant Professor Northwestern College > Department of English Orange City, IA 51041 > ********************************************************************** >