By the time I got to the station, I was just too late.

Question

HiPlease can someone help with this one...?The model sentence is, 'By the time I got to the station, I was just too late.'My students want to know why it isn't, 'By the time I got to the station, I had been just too late.'I'm thinking of the example, 'I got to the station at 7pm.  I was too late because the train had already left.'  I think my problem is not fully understanding the meaning of 'by the time'.  I don't quite understand why I can't say 'I had been just too late', although I know it doesn't sound right...

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

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Hello, Kougo-- and welcome to English Forums.

I think you are trying to take 'by the time' too literally in this case. Both point events happened at the same time: I got there and I came too late:

By the time I got there, I was too late.
By the time I got there, it was 6 pm..
By the time I got there, Bill arrived too.

There are other scenarios where the past perfect would work:

By the time I got there, I had driven 15 miles.
By the time I got there, the train had already left.

Use of past perfect depends on the relative timing of the 2 past events: one must precede the other.
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Anonymous · Answer

Thanks for your help <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Kougo · Answer

Thanks for your help <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/78.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/78.gif' alt='Emotion: nodding'/>

By the time I got to the station, I was just too late.

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