Ever since a physical description of the assailant had hit the airwaves, people had been calling in with fake sightings and dead-end leads.
С тех пор, как в (в эфире) было передано описание внешности нападавшего, поступило много звонков от людей, которые называли ложные места[, где якобы он был замечен] и давали зацепки, заводящие [полицию] в тупик.
Given that the original English has the past perfect, my first instinct would have been to start this with С тех пор, как в эфире было передано, не один человек звонил... Would something like that have made sense too?
С тех пор, как в эфире было передано, звонило много людей. Why not? Doesn't "ever" give any additional shade to the meaning? I thought "ever since" would be more "dynamic" compared to just "since".
If you had SINCE without EVER here, the meaning would be так как instead of с тех пор 😉
Also, your translation describes a momentary cause and effect, the original English describes what was going on over a period of time in the past, which is why I gravitated towards с тех пор.
Ага, надо исправлять! 🙏
This passage is a preface to something stated in the past. For instance: “The police WERE [past context] frustrated to the point of abandoning the search. [Why? What happened before this to make them so frustrated?] Ever since a physical description of the assailant HAD hit the airwaves, people HAD been calling in...
I had doubts, of course. Another problem here was the progressive because it supposedly requires an imperfective form, which would sound awkward after с тех пор как.
... беспрерывно звонили люди и... /беспрерывно поступали звонки от людей, которые...
>>This passage is a preface to something stated in the past.
Good to know!
Yes, anytime you see the past perfect, it’s a preface so something in the past.
Yes. Mayby that's why it's so confusing when used in a context with a present tense.))
Exactly. A little while ago, you pointed out that something was missing from one of my translations. I responded with “I had missed that point.” With this comment, I took you back in time to the moment in the past when I translated it - actually BEFORE I translated it, I overlooked that point. So the past perfect always takes you back to a point in the past, and then to a point BEFORE that point.
Классно! Ага, я не заметила, что там the past perfect. Сохраню это объяснение. 🙏👍
Нашла в Evernote твоё объяснение past perfect, но оно о контексте с прошедшим временем.
Я не понимаю... вот это объяснение тоже о таком контексте.
Я имела в виду это:
This is true. You have to remember that the past perfect is ONLY used in a past context, for example when you're telling a story about things that happened in the past. When we talk like this, we refer to different points in the past: "when my daughter was born" or "I moved to the countryside". However, quite often, for the purposes of our story, it's interesting or necessary to describe what was happening before these events or leading up to these events and that's when the past perfect is used. The past perfect alone can refer to something you did ONE TIME before: "I HAD DIVORCED my husband when by daughter was born" -or- "I HAD GOTTEN tired of the big city and moved to the countryside." The past perfect continuous is used to talk about ongoing or repeated actions before a point in the past: "I HAD BEEN WORKING as a bookkeeper when my daughter was born" -or- "I HAD BEEN DREAMING of a more peaceful life, so I moved to the countryside."
That’s exactly what I was talking about above)) There’s a point in the past, and the past perfect talks about what happened BEFORE that point.
Yes))) 🙏👍