the robber attacked/the robber had attacked

Question

I was taking a test and the test said that 1 is correct. I wonder why 2 is considered wrong (according to the opinion of the author). Is 2 wrong?

1 She said that the robber attacked her when she was opening the door to her apartment.

2 She said that the robber had attacked her when she was opening the door to her apartment.

As is often the case with past and past perfect, both are possible. In fact even "was attacking" would be possible (but incongruent) — James K, Oct 17 '23 at 06:24
(2) is correct and may even be preferable as it has a backshifted verb (this context is good for back-shifting) — James K, Oct 17 '23 at 19:26
There are tons of answers here on simple past and past perfect. Please search for them. — Lambie, Oct 17 '23 at 21:55
Please reform this into a question about some specific aspect of English, and tell us what you already know about it, what research you've done to answer the question yourself, and what you're still unsure about. — gotube, Oct 17 '23 at 23:05
Does this answer your question? When is the past perfect exactly needed? — None, Oct 18 '23 at 06:43

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 17 '23 at 19:29

Both are correct.

is probably better. It has been formed by backshifting:

She said "The robber attacked me when I was opening the door to my apartment."

She said that the robber had attacked her ...

Backshifting is not absolutely essential, but it is often a natural shift in tense.

the robber attacked/the robber had attacked

1 Answers1