I almost gave up because Holland’s excessive and completely unnecessary use of past perfect tense was driving me crazy. “After a while they had given up on the map and used a compass and dead reckoning instead.” For the love of God, why not simply “After a while they gave up on the map…”? There are hundreds of instances of the use of the word “had”. AAAAAGH!!
— Sep 09, 2025 02:01PM
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