The money was handed over to driver by this morning
Money had been handed over to driver this morning
What is the difference between these sentences?
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2Please do a search. There are many questions that ask the difference between the past and the past perfect.– James KAug 23, 2017 at 6:55
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First of all, both of them should have "the" before "driver". Second, the second sentence implies that another action took place after the money was given and before now - it's far deeper into the past.– SovereignSunAug 23, 2017 at 6:55
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Related: 'was' versus 'had been'– ColleenVAug 23, 2017 at 12:07
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2 Answers
I have doubts about the correctness of both the original sentences. But I would use "The money had been handed over to the driver this morning" (past perfect) to refer to something happened before something else that we are talking about, like in "They didn't give me the money because it had been given to the driver this morning". Or I would use "The money was handed over to driver this morning" (simple past) to describe something happened this morning
Money had been handed over to driver this morning
The above sentence simply shows that the task of handing over the money to the driver has already been carried out this morning.
The money was handed over to driver by this morning
Now, I am not very sure about the correctness of this sentence, possible alternates are :
1.The money was handed over to the driver this morning
or
2.The money was to be handed over to the driver by this morning
There is no difference between the sentences, other than your usage preference if you select option 1.
However, option 2 shows that there was a plan of handing over the money to the driver this morning. The task itself may or may not have been carried out.
