have/ had finished

Status
Not open for further replies.

Ju

Key Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
Hong Kong
Current Location
Hong Kong
a) After I have finished my work, I went to bed.

b) After I had finished my work, I went to bed.

What are the differences in meaning between the above sentence.

******************************************************
Which is the best answer of the following question? Actually I feel both answers do make sense.

After I .........my work, I went to bed.

a. have finished
b. had finished


Tks / ju
 
You need the past perfect here, to show one action that was completed before another one, so you need "had finished."
 
I agree:

After I had finished work, I went to bed.' is the correct sentence.

First I finished work.
Then I went to bed.

With present perfect, you can talk about the future:

After I have finished work, I'll go to bed.

First I will finish work.
Then I'll go to bed.

Hope this helps!
 
You need the past perfect here, to show one action that was completed before another one, so you need "had finished."
Actually, you don't need the past perfect to show that; the word "After" tells you that. "had" is not wrong there, but you don't need it.
Certainly "have" is wrong in that sentence, so the sentence with "had" is the corrrect one of the two.

But you could also just say 'After I finished work, I went to bed.'
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Ask a Teacher

If you have a question about the English language and would like to ask one of our many English teachers and language experts, please click the button below to let us know:

(Requires Registration)
Back
Top