Difference between Present perfect and Past simple

Question

What is the right choice here? and why?I can't do my homework because I ( lost - have lost - had lost ) my notebook.

Mr D · Accepted Answer

I can't do my homework because I have lost my notebook. (This sentence suggests that sometime in the past -- and you're not sure when, exactly -- you lost your notebook, and it also emphasizes the fact that your having lost the notebook has a direct effect on right now and your inability to do your homework. If you were to speak this sentence, you wo would probably turn "I have" into the contraction "I've.")

I can't do my homework because I lost my notebook. (I imagine this would be the more common construction. You've lost the emphasis above, but it's entirely inconsequential. The meaning is still very much clear and obvious.)

I can't do my homework because I had lost my notebook. (This would be incorrect. The past perfect is used to indicate that one event in the past happened before another event in the past. "I couldn't do my homework because I had lost my notebook" would work. You've put not doing your homework into the past and losing your notebook further into the past.)

Hope that helps!

Difference between Present perfect and Past simple

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