Question

Please, explain!i'm russian, i know eng very well, BUT i don't understand the deifference between Past Simple and Past Perfect!

Clive · Accepted Answer

Here's the broad idea.
Simple Past describes an event that occurred at some time in the past.
Past Perfect indicates that a past event occurred before some later event or point in the past.

Consider these examples.
Example 1. Tom came home at 6 pm yesterday. Mary cooked dinner. Sounds like she cooked it after 6 pm.

Example 2. Tom came home at 6 pm yesterday. Mary had cooked dinner. This means she cooked it before 6 pm.

However, when the sequence of events is already clear, Simple Past is often used instead of Past Perfect.
Hence, both of the following examples are correct.
Example 3. After Tom came home, Mary cooked dinner.
Example 4. After Tom had come home, Mary cooked diner.
The word 'after' is enough to make the sequence clear.

Clive

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