time sequence

Marta   Sun Mar 18, 2007 1:07 pm GMT
I'd really appreaciate your help with this sentence. Is it correct (verb tense)?

'What is annoying is that after I work(?) for ten minutes or so, he comes and takes the papers.'

Thanks.
Josh Lalonde   Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:47 pm GMT
This is correct, but it may have a different meaning than you intend. As it is written, it has a habitual meaning, something like "Every time I work for ten minutes...". If you meant to express a single event where you had worked for ten minutes, then he came in, you should say something like this: "What is annoying is that after I had worked for ten minutes or so, he came in and took the papers." Which one were you aiming for?
Marta   Sun Mar 18, 2007 3:36 pm GMT
I was aiming for 'happening almost every time', so I got the tense right. :-)
Thanks for the explanation.