Using past perfect with conclusion words

Question

Is the past perfect tense necessary when using conclusion words (so, therefore, thus)? Does the meaning of conclusory words imply that the verb contained in the conclusion occur after the verb in the premise, and thus, the past perfect is not necessary?

I arrived at the airport early, so I didn't miss my flight.

I had arrived at the airport early, so I didn't miss my flight.

Thanks.

It purely depends on narrative context. If you arrived at the airport before the "current narrative reference time" you can reasonably use past perfect (but even then it's not always obligatory), otherwise not. In your example we've no context so it's meaningless to ask which is appropriate. Without context, we don't even know whether your *so* means for the purpose of, or therefore. — FumbleFingers, Dec 05 '15 at 12:42
Related: Why do people sometimes use the past perfect form of a verb when the past would suffice? (e.g. “you had mentioned”) — Nathaniel is protesting, Dec 06 '15 at 19:35

Benjamin Harman · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-05T06:35:42.740

No, the past perfect tense isn't required when using words like so, therefore, thus, etc. What you call "conclusory words" don't imply that the events in the clause they introduce happened before those in another clause. In fact, it can be the opposite. For example:

She drove my car here, so I obviously had given her my keys.
Jake admitted the truth only today and thus had lied about it yesterday.

The events that follow so and thus above actually precede those in their sentence's first clause and main clause, respectively, thus flipping the order. When telling a story, however, we often explain past events in the order they happened, so the past tense moves forward with the narrative. As such, we generally don't need to use the past perfect to indicate that the events we say first happened before events we say next because it's implied by the order we're saying it. For example:

John unlocked the door, so I went inside.
Grandma didn't give me a cookie, so I punched her in the nose.
Everyone was being annoying, so we left.

Even though what happened in each first clause above happened before what happened in each second clause, we don't need the present perfect to say that. The progressing flow of the narrative is sufficient.

The only foreseeable rule regarding the past perfect in such sentences wouldn't be tenses that require the use of the past perfect but vice versa: If we use the past perfect, then we must use a past tense that isn't past-perfect somewhere else for an event more recent to justify the use of the past perfect. For example:

Bob had called me nine times, so I called him back.
He had lied to me. He had beaten me. He had cheated on me. He had even killed my dog. Therefore, I got a restraining order against him and then burned all his clothes on the front lawn.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 05 '15 at 15:34

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"I arrived at the airport early, so I didn't miss my flight" is correct as it is; however, the second example should read, "I had arrived at the airport early, so I wouldn't miss my flight." But please note FumbleFingers' excellent comment to consider this matter more deeply.

I would write, "I arrived at the airport early so as not to miss my flight," (no comma needed); or, "I had arrived at the airport early so I would not miss my flight."

answered Dec 05 '15 at 15:34

Mark Hubbard

6,777

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The second example can be perfectly fine in the proper context: "There was a 20-car pile-up on the highway this morning because of the fog. Luckily, I had arrived at the airport early, so I didn't miss my flight. But it was half-empty because of all the people who did. – Peter Shor Jan 05 '16 at 01:27

Using past perfect with conclusion words

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