He moved or he had moved

AnonymousHe moved or he had moved

It doesn't matter in your sentence. Both work. Depending on the preceding text, 'had moved' might be better, but in isolation 'moved' is better.

CJ

Moved. No need for the past perfect here. But, you could phrase the sentence this way: Because his dad had been invited to read English at Harvard, he moved to America.

I'll keep my sentence, but should I change 'was' to 'had been'? Or is either acceptable? Had been seems to imply a more recent time than was.

Anonymousshould I change 'was' to 'had been'?

No. There's no reason to do that.

AnonymousHad been seems to imply a more recent time than was.

No. It's the other way around. 'was' is more recent than 'had been'.

Karen was in the living room when I saw her. Earlier she had been in the back yard.

I would only use "had moved" if the sentence before this one talked about something he did after moving to America, and you previously had not explained that he moved there. Otherwise, this sentence by itself is better with "moved."

Normally it's undergraduates who 'read' a subject, not professors.

fivejedjonNormally it's undergraduates who 'read' a subject, not professors.

It seems more British to me, in the first place. In the US it would simply be 'study'.