Past Perfect Tense

Engaging in discussions will lead to improvements in writing especially the grammatical aspect.






Temporary Occupation Licence holders have no legal right over the land as their licences had expired.

The above is a sub-headline to a news item found in a popular national English daily.

The sentence has a combination of present tense and past perfect tense.

Invariably, grammar books are advising against the use of the past perfect tense except to indicate past actions where one was either completed or should have been completed before commencement of another.

The said sub-headline does not reflect a situation that warrants the use of the past perfect tense.

It can conveniently be recast as "Temporary Occupation Licence holders have no legal right over the land as their licences have expired" to be grammatically correct.