What is the difference in meaning between the two sentences below?
1.When I saw her, she was near that place.
2.When I saw her, she had been near that place.
In the first sentence we have Past Simple+Past Simple. In the second sentence we have Past Simple +Past Perfect Simple .
I found the following similar sentences in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English at the word when 1:
- When the family came here from Russia, they were penniless.
- She remembered the day when Paula had first arrived.
I know from school that we use the Past Perfect Simple (had + past participle) to talk about time up to a certain point in the past.