grammar question no. 31: if you wanted/if you had wanted

Question

Hello everyone,Here's a brief description of the situation.A day ago two people were supposed to go out together. Unfortunately, for some reason they didn't. At the of end of the day they are having this conversation:A: Why didn't you answer the phone when I called you? I wanted to know what time we would meet.B: You called me too late. I was waiting for your call until 4pm.A: Well, I was busy.B: If you really wanted to meet, why didn't you call me earlier?Now, there are at least three points I'd like to ask about. 1. Should speaker B use past perfect tense in his/her first sentence? Should B say I had been waiting for your call...2. Should speaker A say I had been busy.3. Should speaker B use the third conditional in the last sentence? If you rally had wanted to meet... After all speaker B is referring to a past action that didn't happen.Thank you.

Perfect Stranger · Accepted Answer

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KJinCali79 · Answer

1. NEITHER. I prefer "I waited for your call until 4pm." This also matches the tense of "called" in the preceding sentence.
2. NO. "I was busy." is correct.
3. YES. "If you really had wanted to meet..." is better. This is a usage of the past perfect tense to express dissastisfaction with the past.

Perfect Stranger · Answer

First of all, let me thank you for dropping by KJinCali79

Let me ask you some further questions. I'm a grammar nutcase and I just need to know why things work this or that way.

KJinCali791. NEITHER. I prefer "I waited for your call until 4pm." This also matches the tense of "called" in the preceding sentence.

Don't you think that was waiting would express the idea of continuity here?

KJinCali792. NO. "I was busy." is correct.

The person was busy all the time before he made a call. Doesn't it justify the use of past perfect?

Thanks a lot!

KJinCali79 · Answer

Perfect StrangerDon't you think that was waiting would express the idea of continuity here?

Was waiting is not necessarily incorrect; however, since you specify "until 4PM" it sounds very finished. Which is why I thought "waited" was a better choice. Again, it also matches the tense of the preceding sentence.

As for your second question, busy, as used here, is not a verb it is an adjective describing the state of being occupied or engaged with work or something. In this case "is" is the verb. I am busy. I was busy. I have been busy. I will be busy. If you say "I had been busy" the state of being busy both occurred and finished in the past. Meaning the person was busy before, but not immediately before making the call. The options that apply would be "I was busy." or perhaps "I have been busy" if this were continuing into the present.

grammar question no. 31: if you wanted/if you had wanted

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