[wanted to achieve] or [had wanted to achieve]
I have made up (1) below.
(1) Last year, I started going to the gym and tried to lose weight. By the end of last week, I lost ten pounds. That was one of the personal goals I wanted to achieve.
My non-native English speaking friends think the tense for "wanted" is wrong and suggest using the past perfect. Their revision is (2) below.
(2) Last year, I started going to the gym and tried to lose weight. By the end of last week, I lost ten pounds. That was one of the personal goals I had wanted to achieve.
Is the simple past "wanted" really wrong? Thank you very much for your help.
Top answer
Simple past "wanted" reads OK to me. "had wanted" would not be wrong though. To my mind, it is more the verb "lost" that ought to be in the past perfect: (1) Last year, I started going to the gym and tried to lose weight.
- Simple past "wanted" reads OK to me.
- "had wanted" would not be wrong though.
- To my mind, it is more the verb "lost" that ought to be in the past perfect: (1) Last year, I started going to the gym and tried to lose weight.
- By the end of last week, I had lost ten pounds.
- That was one of the personal goals I wanted to achieve.
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Simple past "wanted" reads OK to me. "had wanted" would not be wrong though.
To my mind, it is more the verb "lost" that ought to be in the past perfect:
(1) Last year, I started going to the gym and tried to lose weight. By the end of last week, I had lost ten pounds. That was one of the personal goals I wanted to achieve.
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