I am in the process of reading the dead grammarians on tense vs. kind-of-action, and came across this, seemingly ripped from B-Greek headlines, predating even Dr. Conrad (I think).
It is the commonest grammatical vice for one to make a conjectural translation into English and then to discuss the syntactical propriety of the Greek tense on the basis of this translation. Burton indeed justifies this method for the benefit of the English student of Greek. But I submit that the practice brings more confusion than help. “The Aorist for the English Perfect, and the Aorist for the English Pluperfect” Burton urges as “a pertinent illustration.” But that method keeps the student at the English standpoint, just the thing to be avoided. The Greek point of view affords the only sure basis of operation. Winer laments that “N. T. grammarians and expositors have been guilty of the greatest mistakes” here, though it cannot be said that Winer himself always lives up to his just ideal. Translation into English or German is the least point to note in judging a tense.
A.T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 1919; 2006), 821.