please help me rewrite this sentence

Question

"I'm sorry if I had disturbed you the other day"

vs.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you the other day"

Could someone make up a sentence where the use of "had disturbed you" would make sense? For instance, "I'm sorry if I had disturbed you the other day; I had not been careful." would that be correct? Whereas "I'm sorry if I had disturbed you the other day; I was not careful" would be incorrect, wouldn't it?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

"I'm sorry if I had disturbed you the other day"

vs.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you the other day"

Could someone make up a sentence where the use of "had disturbed you" would make sense?

You told me to be quiet. I disturbed you. Here, it sounds like the disturbing came after the telling.

You told me to be quiet. I had disturbed you. Here, the disturbing clearly came before the telling.

You need a context that involves two different points in the past. You can then use Past Perfect as a means of clarifying the time sequence. In your two examples, you don't have a context with two points in the past.

Best wishes, Clive

Anonymous · Answer

I think the proper sentence would be "I'm sorry if I disturbed you the other day, I was not being careful. "

please help me rewrite this sentence

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