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verb tense: [had waited] or [have waited]

Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2023 9:28 pm
by ansonman
I have made up the sentences below.

(1a) I have waited for this job opportunity for a long time. I am happy that it came last month.
(1b) I had waited for this job opportunity for a long time. I am happy that it came last month.

(2a) I have waited for this job opportunity for a long time. I am happy that it came last week.
(2b) I had waited for this job opportunity for a long time. I am happy that it came last week.

(3a) I have waited for this job opportunity for a long time. I am happy that it came yesterday.
(3b) I had waited for this job opportunity for a long time. I am happy that it came yesterday.

My friends are all non-native English speakers. Most of them think the present perfect tense "have waited" works for (3a) because the opportunity came recently. They believe that the pluperfect "had waited" would be the better choice for (1) and (2) because it happened a bit too long ago.

I am not sure if they are correct because non-native speakers like me. Please help me. Thank you.

Re: verb tense: [had waited] or [have waited]

Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2023 2:03 am
by Alan
(b) is appropriate in every case you cite.