Sunday, May 13, 2018

present perfect - Tense slip: "have done sth when I realized"?




Most of the confidences were unsought —frequently I have feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostile levity when I realized by some unmistakable sign that an intimate revelation was quivering on the horizon.



(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, emphasis added)


I think it's better to write "I feigned sleep.. when I realized..."


Thanks for the example in the first answer, I feel ok about "when I have eaten apples I have gotten very sick" but how about "when I ate apples I have gotten very sick"? what's the difference between this two?


A new question: To show that I still feign sleep when I realize an intimate revelation. Isn't it better to say "frequently I have feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostile levity when I have realized by some unmistakable sign that an intimate revelation was quivering on the horizon."




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