A doubt on modifier

by **Guest** Fri Oct 03, 2008 9:26 am

Hi,,
In the below sentence what is "when the company had lost $7.4 billion" modifying. Is it year 2001 or year 1992.

please help!

2001 proved to be the automaker's first losing year since 1992, when the company had lost $7.4 billion, primarily resulting from almost $7 billion in accounting charges.

by **StaceyKoprince** Mon Oct 06, 2008 2:27 pm

1992. Both because that's the date closest to the "when" and because the clause says they "HAD lost" the money - past perfect is used for the longer-ago event of two past events.

by **Guest** Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:16 pm

Thanks for replying.

so we can say that in case of "when", whichever event is nearer to "when" will get modified by it.

by **StaceyKoprince** Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:51 pm

Most of the time, yes - it depends on the exact structure of the sentence, though. There are some convoluted structures in which the "when" could be applying to the date that is further away from it. But if you've got a date literally right next to the "when" - then that should be it.