Cameron worked for this computer company for ten years and then he found a better-paid job.
Why is past simple used here?
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1Why do you think it shouldn't be? – Kate Bunting Dec 21 '23 at 10:35
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Because it refers to a past time situation. – BillJ Dec 21 '23 at 12:23
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2Does this answer your question? Canonical Post #2: What is the perfect, and how should I use it? – FumbleFingers Dec 21 '23 at 14:21
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The simple past is preferred. We can still use the past perfect, but it is unnecessary as the sequence of events is clear: the finding happened after the working.
Seowjooheng Singapore
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Presumably you mean "Why isn't the past perfect used, when one past incident happened before another?"
The simple past tense is fine when you are merely listing two things that happened. If the writer had wanted to emphasise the order of events, they could have said
Cameron had worked at the computer company for ten years before he found a better-paid job.
Kate Bunting
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In your last example, you might say that the perfect is redundant because the past/anterior meaning is conveyed by "before". – BillJ Dec 22 '23 at 09:13