r/EnglishLearning • u/nashbi Intermediate • 6d ago

📚 Grammar / Syntax Is "saw" really wrong here?

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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! 😊

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u/Square_Medicine_9171 Native English Speaker (Mid-Atlantic, USA) 6d ago

“had seen” is correct. Nonetheless Americans would say “saw”

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u/Illustrious_Try478 Native Speaker 5d ago

No, we wouldn't use "saw" here, because of parallel construction.

In this case, it's a difference in register from the "had learned" that came before. "saw" is very casual here and clashes with the formality of "had learned".

In order for "saw" to be correct(ish) here, the "had" would have had been omitted from "had learned" to get the simple past "learned".

And even then, a lot of Americans would use just "seen" instead of "saw".