I have a question about past tenses in sequence.
I studied that while describing connected past events in sequence:
- event 1: former event is in past-perfect
- event 2: latter event is in past-tense
For e.g. 1,
When I reached the platform, the train had already left.
Now, please consider this sentence: (e.g. 2)
Well, I couldn’t find my classroom, so I got to the classroom a bit late and then I had to sing a song in front of the other students! source
In the above sentence, event 1 (reached classroom) is in past-tense and event 2 (sang a song) is in past-perfect tense.
Is the sequence of tenses wrong in this sentence? (Firstly, I reached my classroom and then I sang a song.)
Please help me understand.
Best Answer
It isn't in the past perfect tense, it's also the past simple.
You use have to (here, had to) to say that something is required or necessary (here, your performance in front of the other students was demanded).
In your sentence, both events are mentioned in the past simple. The tense sets the order in which those events happened.