Past Perfect & Past Simple

Question

Is there anything wrong with the following sentence:
"We had arrived later than his regular posted check-in time and he hadn't been able to meet us there in person, it didn't cause any problems at all."

Dave Phillips · Accepted Answer

It doesn't flow for me and if you are putting things in the order they happened it is best to stick to past simple.

"We arrived later than his posted check-in time so he was unable to meet us in person, however it didn't cause any problems."

Fivejedjon · Answer

I agree with Dave Phillips's response.

Many coursebooks, and some teachers, spend a lot of time explaining how the past perfect is 'required'. In my opinion, they could spend their time more usefully explaining why it is very often not required.

Whenever the sequence of past situations is clear, then the past perfect is rarely required:
He left after I (had) arrived.

In reported speech, the past perfect is used far less often by native speakers than some books suggest:
He said that he (had) lived in Germany before he moved to Prague.

It is, however, normally required in talking about past counterfactual situations (the so-called third conditional):
If I had looked more closely, I would have spotted the difference.

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks everyone! It seemed a little bit confusing to me because, although the actions are consecutive, there is still a time frame separating the two events of "arrival/him not being there" and "not causing any problems afterward".

Past Perfect & Past Simple

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