i had a big argument with my english teacher today, she just drove me nuts. there's this sentence: Laura __________ (not to allow) to go abroad before she ___________ (to renew) her health insurance. it should be past simple/past perfect. we spent like 30mins arguing which is which and i'm still confused. i just thought i'd ask here because there are a lot native speakers and people who speak really good english.
i'm very sorry about offtopic but i really need to know
Past tense would be this: Laura wasn't allowed to go abroad before she renewed her health insurance.
Also after thinking about it I think using "until" instead of "before" would make the sentence less awkward too, so like this: Laura isn't allowed to go abroad until she renews her health insurance.
yeah, I agree about "until". so no past perfect required at all then? I thought it should be "Laura hadn't been allowed to go abroad before she renewed her health insurance." so that it's more like a sequence of events: for some time she wasn't able to go anywhere and then she renewed the insurance.
Yeah, this version: "Laura hadn't been allowed to go abroad before she renewed her health insurance." is definitely less correct than this one: "Laura wasn't allowed to go abroad before she renewed her health insurance."
Laura __________ (not to allow) to go abroad before she ___________ (to renew) her health insurance.
it should be past simple/past perfect. we spent like 30mins arguing which is which and i'm still confused.
i just thought i'd ask here because there are a lot native speakers and people who speak really good english.
i'm very sorry about offtopic but i really need to know
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It's an awkward sentence in general. This sounds better.
Before Laura renews her health insurance she isn't allowed to go abroad.
Swapping it sounds better IMO.
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and if we were to use past tenses? simple and perfect?
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Past tense would be this:
Laura wasn't allowed to go abroad before she renewed her health insurance.
Also after thinking about it I think using "until" instead of "before" would make the sentence less awkward too, so like this:
Laura isn't allowed to go abroad until she renews her health insurance.
Reply
so no past perfect required at all then?
I thought it should be "Laura hadn't been allowed to go abroad before she renewed her health insurance." so that it's more like a sequence of events: for some time she wasn't able to go anywhere and then she renewed the insurance.
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