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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Tense

I wonder if it's normal to use past perfect instead of simple past:

I hadn't been sure until he told me me that.
I hadn't known it until he told me that.
I hadn't thought that way until he told me that I'd been wrong.

Thanks
  

Top answer

It's appropriate when you want to talk about events that are in the past of a reference point also in the past. "until he told me that" is a past reference point. We can tell because "told" is the past tense of the verb to tell.

— Deadrat

  • It's appropriate when you want to talk about events that are in the past of a reference point also in the past.
  • "until he told me that" is a past reference point.
  • We can tell because "told" is the past tense of the verb to tell.
  • You're talking about what you knew before that point, so you use "had...
  • known," the past perfect of the verb to know.
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5 Answers
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It's appropriate when you want to talk about events that are in the past of a reference point also in the past.

"until he told me that" is a past reference point. We can tell because "told" is the past tense of the verb to tell. You're talking about what you knew before that point, so you use "had... known," the past perfect of the verb to know.
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Can I also use simple past for those sentences and which tense is more often used in conversation?
If I'm not mistaken, both can be used if there's "until" in the sentence.
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In the last sentence "... that I was wrong." is also correct, right?
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Sure. You can say "I didn't know it until he told me." Simple past tense. Only your reference point has changed (to the present "right now," looking back to the past.) You're still talking about the same time interval, which is now entirely defined by the semantics of "until he told" and not by the verb tense.
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