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Dear EQ. I admire your passion for learning. The difference lies in the focus rather than how recently the actios occur. </P>
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<P>I <STRONG>have</STRONG> been looking for this kind of cafe. </P>
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<P>This focuses on the act of looking. The search may not necessarily stop, and may well continue in the future (look for more of this kind of cafe). For another example, if you say, "I've been reading", you may stop reading at this point, but also may keep reading. </P>
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<P>I <STRONG>had</STRONG> been looking for this kind of cafe. </P>
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<P>This past perfect always makes reference to the past tense. So in this case, some past action like "I found it now" is implicitly implied. This means that the act of finding, as well as searching is in focus, and also that the search is now over. </P>
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I used to think that the present tense and the past perfect tense can not go together under any circumstances. The past & the past perfect is one good match, and the present & the present perfect tense is another good one, but they never get mixed, I thought.
But what you are saying is, if I got you right, the present tense is able to be used with the past perfect tense although the nuance can differ slightly. Is it? Oops. I think I gotta study grammar from the scratch again. Thank you Jin. I can' thank you enough, indeed.
Oh, what I meant by that is - I usually have bread for breakfast. I had eaten that for years - The former one is present tense and the latter past perfect. I used to believe that this combination of tenses is weird. But natives consider this can be accepted. Right?
This time, it is really weird, and I don't think anybody would say that. If you are still eating bread for for bread, then, obviously "had" tense does not fit. It's a practice that's still current, and there is no reason to say "had eaten".
첫댓글 sounds Good
I used to think that the present tense and the past perfect tense can not go together under any circumstances. The past & the past perfect is one good match, and the present & the present perfect tense is another good one, but they never get mixed, I thought.
But what you are saying is, if I got you right, the present tense is able to be used with the past perfect tense although the nuance can differ slightly. Is it? Oops. I think I gotta study grammar from the scratch again. Thank you Jin. I can' thank you enough, indeed.
What do you mean, past perfect is used together with present tense?
Oh, what I meant by that is - I usually have bread for breakfast. I had eaten that for years - The former one is present tense and the latter past perfect. I used to believe that this combination of tenses is weird. But natives consider this can be accepted. Right?
And the nuance made by 'I had eaten' is that the action of eating was done already, if I got you right.
This time, it is really weird, and I don't think anybody would say that. If you are still eating bread for for bread, then, obviously "had" tense does not fit. It's a practice that's still current, and there is no reason to say "had eaten".