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Is this preterite normal?This is the place for questions about conjugations, verb tenses, adverbs, adjectives, word order, syntax and other grammar questions for English or Spanish. |
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#1
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Is this preterite normal?
In this newspaper report I read
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#2
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American English allows for this construction. We prefer to use the preterite where the pluperfect seems to be the choice on the other side of the Atlantic. Perhaps the author of this article has western influence.
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#3
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Though pluperfect would be the normal way to do it, some sociolinguistic registers in certain geographies may use preterite instead, which is as perfective as pluperfect and may be unambiguous provided some additional information.
Anyway, it looks more informal and popular level: -¿Por qué Heywood no pudo ser el que llamó por teléfono ayer? -No sé. -Porque murió el día anterior.
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Thanks both!
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#5
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As an additional note, Murió el día anterior as such does not appear in CREA, but "Murió el día" has 8 examples.
Here are a couple, El ex párroco murió el día 27 de febrero y los vecinos acusaron al obispo de haberle hecho "la vida imposible" María Santos Reyes Vda. de López, esposa del activista de ARENA Manuel de Jesús López, quien murió el día del cierre de campaña electoral en la noche, pide ayuda económica para sus hijos. Había dicho muchas cosas que Nati y Mami y Tía Ele y Sara F. repetían a menudo pero yo nunca le escuché porque él murió el día antes de yo nacer. Y no comprendo (decía mi madre) cómo el tío Silvestre no se murió el día que saquearon la catedral y destrozaron el órgano. Mamá Mariquita no murió el día que le tocaba. In all the examples (which sound all normal and natural to me) one could use "había muerto el día..." with the same ease. (I just remembered a "folk song" that said "ya se murió el burro que acarreaba la vinagre..." which in actual fact, would be "ya se ha muerto el burro..." Although the "distance" in time, is waaaay longer with murió...) (I hope my additional contribution helps, rather than confuse...) In summary, yes, the usage is quite normal as noted by Rusty and Alec...
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Lo propio de la verdad es que se basta a sí misma, aquel que la posee no intenta convencer a nadie. "An enemy is somebody who flatters you. A friend is somebody who criticizes the living daylights out of you." |
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Quote:
Where is pjt when we need him? |
#7
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Well, hopefully Pjt33 jumps soon and gives us his input...
__________________
Lo propio de la verdad es que se basta a sí misma, aquel que la posee no intenta convencer a nadie. "An enemy is somebody who flatters you. A friend is somebody who criticizes the living daylights out of you." |
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