Hello everyone, I apologize in advance if I'm in the wrong section or if this question has already been asked, but I tried looking for an answer (both on this forum and on the Internet) but I didn't find anything. I'm currently starting a new book, and this time I decided to go for the past tense to write, as I've always been writing in the present tense (well, it's only my third book). So, my question is, can you use the present perfect tense when writing in past tense? Or do you go for the past perfect tense? I should also mention that english isn't my first language. I'm gonna give an example, which is the paragraph that's been bugging me since I wrote it. "Every time this happened, I always thought to myself “what a bunch of cowards”, but who was I to say that? Have I ever tried to stand up for myself? Have I ever complained to anyone? Have I ever begged them to stop? No, I haven’t. And I probably never will." So, should I have used "Had I ever complained" or "Have I"? When I read it, the past perfect seems more appropriate to me, but when I try to correct it I start feeling like the present perfect also is. So I'm at a loss here. Thanks in advance, Oberlin.
I'm not even familiar with the term present perfect, but I'm assuming it refers to the 'have done' rather than 'had done'? Had I ever seems more appropriate for a past tense story when a character brings up something from the past, like your examples here. What I think you're calling present perfect ('have done') seems more appropriate in a present tense story.
Okay, I've been reflecting on this and I think (?) I came up with the right answer. I think the right answer is to use the past tense, as if I were writing my story in the present tense I'd go for the present perfect tense without even thinking about, so it should be the same with past and past perfect. I don't know really know how to explain it, but in my head it makes sense, I hope you'll get what I mean. But I could be wrong, so I'm still gonna let my thread on the forum because there might be some exceptions in which I could/should use the present perfect
Thank you. How do you call those tenses? I think that's the British way to call them, and as I live in an European country that's their English that I had to learn. But if there's another word for those tenses in American English, please let me know, as I've been struggling for years to replace some of the British things I learned
Oh, I have no idea! I never knew there was a term for it, though I had heard of past perfect (see what I did there? ). It's probably called present perfect, I'm just not very up on the terms for these things.
Thanks, your answer helped a lot! Don't know why I made such a big deal about it. Must be because I'm more used to using the present perfect than the past one
