Choice of tense question

Question

I need help in choosing the correct tense or structure for this idea I'm trying to convey. I came up with the first sentence below, but then I thought of the other two sentences and found myself confused.

Our parents and ancestors had began this practice a long time ago.

Our parents and ancestors had began practicing this a long time ago.

Our parents and ancestors began this practice a long time ago.

In the above sentence, 'this practice' refers to upcycling.

I have consulted grammarly, ludwig.guru and searched for news article containing similar sentence structures such as this one, but I'm still not sure which one I should go with. I would appreciate any help that can point me in the right direction. Thank you.

Answer 1

I think past simple is the best choice. They began this practice a long time ago. The beginning of the practice is completely in the past, hence past simple. You're looking at it from the present.

If you use past perfect your reference point is in the past and the beginning of the practice happened before that point in the past.

Answer 2

In the context of this question, "began" is the past tense of "begin", while "had begun" is the past perfect tense. The past tense indicates that something happened, while the past perfect indicates that the thing happened and was completed.

In all three sentences you have given, I think it should be

Our parents and ancestors had begun this practice a long time ago.

Although I am not entirely sure that you would want to use "had begun", as it is in past perfect tense, meaning it has been "completed". But if you do not want to use "had begun", I feel the second one is the best of the 3

Our parents and ancestors had began practicing this a long time ago.

Sentences can be quite complicated when using "practice" as a noun, so it might be easier to stick with a simpler sentence like the 2nd one u stated in your question. Plus, the 2nd sentence you stated sounds more grammatically correct than the others.