Single or repeated action in past perfect

Question

"On the largest, Channel One, announcers relished America’s humiliating obsession with
claims that Russia had interfered in its elections and that Mr Trump employed prostitutes while
visiting Moscow." Hello, please help me to understand more profoundly the meaning of past perfect in this context. Does HAD INTERFERED means the repeated action? if we said INTERFERED without HAD would it mean a single action like EMPLOYED. ? Some people explained that past perfect means continious action while past simple means single action. It is so intricate.

GPY · Accepted Answer

I see no particular logic behind the choice of "had interfered ... employed". It is hard to see why the more recent event should be in the past perfect and the less recent event in the simple past. I don't see how it can be justified as anything to do with single action or continuous action or repeated action. The tenses should probably be the same, depending on whether the events that are the subject of the claims are viewed as having happened in the past relative to now (simple past) or in the past relative to the time that Channel One announcers were talking about it (past perfect).

AlpheccaStars · Answer

AnonymousDoes HAD INTERFERED means the repeated action?

Not really. There was one election. Interference in an election can mean many different single events or tactics during the campaign. Interference is a non-count noun.

Anonymousif we said INTERFERED without HAD would it mean a single action like EMPLOYED. ?

No, there is virtually no difference in the meaning between simple past and past perfect.
It is a sequence of events. The past perfect emphasizes that the interference came prior to the obsession.

Eager learner · Answer

Hello!

Maybe this helps:

We use Simple Past if we give past events in the order in which they occurred.
However, when we look back from a certain time in the past to tell what had happened before, we use Past Perfect.

Normal order in the past or looking back to an event before a certain time in the past?
Do you just want to tell what happened some time in the past or do you want to tell what had happened before/up to a certain time in the past?

Simple Past
Example: Jane got up at seven. She opened her birthday presents and then the whole family went to the zoo.
Past Perfect Simple some time in the past
before/up to a certain time in the past Example: Before her sixth birthday, Jane had never been to the zoo.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousDoes HAD INTERFERED ~~means~~ mean ~~the~~ repeated action?

Not in itself, but you might infer that from the context.

Anonymousif we said INTERFERED without HAD would it mean a single action like EMPLOYED. ? Some people explained that past perfect means continious action while past simple means single action.

Again, those tenses do not mean any such thing, though you may be able to infer it from the context. The -ing tenses (continuous tenses) are those which indicate continuity. Without a continuous tense, you have to infer continuity from context if any continuous action is intended as part of the statement.
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In this case, "had interfered" could mean one action or several actions. The words "had interfered" do not say one way or the other exactly how many actions there were.

Anonymousrelished America’s humiliating obsession with claims that Russia had interfered in its elections

The time frame is U.S. elections, which was November 8, 2016. If Russia interfered with those elections, it was before then. The elections are in the past. If there was interference, it was before the elections. That's why it's "had interfered".

Anonymousand that Mr Trump employed prostitutes while visiting Moscow.

This could also be "had employed", but it's common not to use the past perfect several times in a row when it's clear that all the events listed took place before some already established time frame.
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CJ

Single or repeated action in past perfect

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