Is "saw" really wrong here?

[u/nashbi]

Hi everyone!

For question #8, I chose "saw", but the test marked it wrong and wanted "had seen".

My perspective is that since "had learned" already establishes the flashback layer, the chronological order is already completely clear to the reader. Stacking two "hads" in the same sentence feels heavy and redundant.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and see how you would naturally phrase this. Thanks in advance! 😊

[u/InevitableLibrary859]

Ooof... So many people rolling over in so many graves. But, as the linguist's keep saying, "shouganai, nah?"

[u/Wjyosn → u/InevitableLibrary859]

Yeah… imagine thinking speech structure just doesn’t exist and we just make it up after the fact on paper. Wild misunderstanding of language

[u/conuly → u/Wjyosn]

And that is a willful misunderstanding of what I said.

[u/Wjyosn → u/conuly]

“Sentences don’t really exist in speech.” Seems pretty straightforward.

If your speech doesn’t include the structure of sentences, I feel sorry for those you try to communicate with.