just

CT   Wed Jan 18, 2006 9:15 am GMT
Does this sentetence below sound right to you?
He just got a cab when it started to pour.

Or with adverb 'just' we must use the past perfect instead of past simple, which means the sntence should be:
He had just got a cab when it started to pour.

The first sentence sounds Okey to me but I'm not a native speaker, so could someone confirm it for me?
Ben   Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:13 pm GMT
If you said it you'd be understood, but it sounds more natural to say:

"He had just got a cab when it started to pour."

Ben.
CT   Wed Jan 18, 2006 2:12 pm GMT
Thank you, Ben.
Uriel   Wed Jan 18, 2006 8:00 pm GMT
If you were American, you would have to say "He had just gotten a cab when it started to pour" -- we retain that form of "got", which has fallen into disuse in the UK and elsewhere.
CT   Thu Jan 19, 2006 4:06 am GMT
Hello, Uriel,

Do Americans say cab or taxi more often? At first I thought it is taxi- Martin Scorsese's 1976 movie was after all TAXI Driver, not Cab Driver!
Kirk   Thu Jan 19, 2006 4:18 am GMT
They're not too commonly used here in California but I only call them "taxis" if I ever have to talk about one. I don't think I use the word "cab" but I understand it.
kritika   Thu Jan 19, 2006 6:35 am GMT
hi
my friend who has got his first job has become very cool these days.
i want to write the sentence that he should get serious because its high time too think about his career. how effectively i can write this sentence?
JJM   Thu Jan 19, 2006 4:21 pm GMT
CT:

You can say:

He'd just got a cab when it started to pour.

and

He just got a cab when it started to pour.

In the latter example, "had" has been dropped through ellipsis, which is a very common tendency in English (dropping words without loss of meaning).
Claude   Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:28 pm GMT
"He just got out of the cab when it started to pour "
sounds more refreshing.

Am I wrong ?

Cheers. Claude.
CT   Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:28 pm GMT
Thanks very much for introducing me to the concept of ellipsis, JJM; I've never heard of it before.
CT   Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:32 pm GMT
Absolutely, Claude.
Pravi   Fri Jan 20, 2006 3:42 pm GMT
<<"He just got out of the cab when it started to pour "
sounds more refreshing. >>

Claude,
Do you mean to say that he got out of the cab, coz in the very first sentence, it does not mention whether the person got in the cab or out of the cab.

<<He just got a cab when it started to pour. >>
This can always mean that he got in to the cab. Am I correct?

Cheers :)