Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction, 3rd Edition, Page 44, 46

[johngeekster]

Use of Perfect tense.

In the introduction to Past Perfect tense on Page 46, it is written that " If more than one action in a sentence occurred at different times in the past, you must use the past perfect tense for the earlier action and simple past for the later action".

But on Page 44 , we are given an example:-
He WALKED to the school in the morning and RAN home in the afternoon.

Here the two actions occur at different times in the past but the tense has been kept same. The above two things contradict each other. Please suggest the exact rule for the usage of PAST PERFECT TENSE

[messi10]

Hi,

The rule depends on the context of the sentence. It is mentioned in the book that if the sequence of events is obvious then there is no need to use past perfect. In the sentence that you that used, the words "morning" and "afternoon" tell us which event took place first and which one took place second. So in this case, there is no need to use past perfect

Regards

Sunil

[jnelson0612]

Thank you Sunil!

[AZ679]

A question about these group of sentences:
Page 105, 5th Edition, Manhattan SC Book.

Right: She WALKED to school in the morning and RAN home in the afternoon.
Right: She WALKS to school in the morning and RUNS home in the afternoon.
Right: She WILL WALK to school in the morning and RUN home in the afternoon.

It is said on this page that 'In this examples, changing tense midstream would be confusing and incorrect.'

But can't we say this:

She walked to the school in the morning and will run home in the afternoon.

[RonPurewal]

if it's currently between "the morning" and "the afternoon", then not only can you write the verbs that way, but in fact you MUST write them that way.