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What is the difference between:

  1. I was upset, so I did not go.
  2. I had been upset, so I did not go.

Some people say that both are correct, but don't we use the past perfect when we are talking about two actions/states in the past?

  • The past perfect clarifies the order of two things in the past. If I was upset and did not go, the reader can figure out which happened first. In your second example, I could have been upset and went anyway. – Yosef Baskin Jun 19 '23 at 15:17
  • Examples : I was upset because she didn't come. I didn't go because I had been upset by her attitude. – Graffito Jun 19 '23 at 15:24
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    What do you already know about the difference between these two tenses? Have you done any research? Please [edit] your question to tell us so we don't reinvent the wheel laying out all the differences between simple past and past perfect. – gotube Jun 19 '23 at 18:19

1 Answers1

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The first sentence is more active, where the second is more passive. Think of it in terms of who you are talking to. I would use the first sentence to be clear, direct and formal, like talking to someone in a higher position than myself (parents, judge, etc). The second sentence leans more along casual talk among peers as it is softer. Overall, the first is like replying with "Yes" and the second is like replying with "Yeah."

Paul Lewis
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