If someone asked me "Have you seen the new season of GoT?" do I respond "I didn't know it had started already!" or "I didn't know it has started already!"? Or just "it started already"?
Learn English – Is it “I didn’t know it had started already!” or “I didn’t know it has started already!”
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Best Answer
Prescriptive English grammar, as I was taught it in 1962, requires the use of the past perfect tense following a verb in the past tense. Therefore, by this prescriptive formula, only "I didn't know it had started already!" is acceptable. However, grammar changes based on usage. Descriptive grammar, the rules that govern spoken informal English, seems to be moving away from the use of the past perfect tense, at least in the US. Word Processor applications underline "had had" in red, in the expression,"He had had enough." So, my answer to your question is, it doesn't matter which expression you use, unless your audience objects. My own preference is to place the word "already" after the auxiliary verb "had", which sounds more euphonious: "I didn't know it had already started!"