In this case are 2 past perfect ok

Question

Yesterday I looked at the record you sent me last week. I saw on the sleeve that you wrote/had written "no payment is necessary for you" but I had paid 50 usd through discogs to get it.

So it would be nice to make me a refund of the postage

Is it better like that

                   in fact :

                             I had paid for the record  past perfect

                             you wrote the message  past simple or past 
                             perfect  

                             you sent       past simple

                             looked saw the message    past simple 

                            ask for a refund

I am not sure if I can write "had written" instead of "wrote" because of "had paid" that comes next. if both are past perfect we can't know which comes first

I don't know what your "boxed" text is supposed to mean, but I would just point out that *I paid for the record* isn't "past perfect". It's just Simple Past. — FumbleFingers, Sep 16 '19 at 17:54
think wrote is certainly the best choice The boxed text is to show the order of the action — Yves Lefol, Sep 16 '19 at 20:42

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 16 '19 at 20:57

Yes, you may say or write:

I saw on the sleeve that you had written "no payment is necessary for you" but I had paid 50 usd ...

It is true that the grammar alone does not specify whether the writing on the sleeve came before or after the payment. But the logic of the narration makes this reasonably clear.

You can also say "I saw on the sleeve that you wrote 'no payment ..." but it would be more natural to recast it as "I saw that you wrote on the sleeve 'no payment ..." as it makes clearer that the writing is on the sleeve, and uses the standard construction "wrote on". The meaning is not significantly changed.

In this case are 2 past perfect ok

1 Answers1