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(the previous part talks about a show using past simple)

...Due to the failure to attract viewers, this show had been closed after only 2 months since the day it was aired.

I feel that the above sentence should be rewritten as:

Due to the failure to attract viewers, this show was closed only two months after the day it was aired.

I think the second version is correct, but I can't tell for sure if the first one is or isn't wrong. So, are both of them correct? Which one do you think is better?

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  • Since the day it was aired is redundant in the first example. Obviously, if it was closed after only two months, those 2 months started on the day it was first aired. As to the use of the past perfect, that depends on context.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented May 22 at 8:12

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The first of your examples is wrong.

The past perfect (here passive) is used:

  1. When you have two events in the past and the first event in the past (the 'past in the past') is expressed using past perfect.

  2. For an event in the past that occurred before a certain recent past as in the example: I had read all of Shakespeare's works by 1990.

Here, it sounds like the show is closed now as well, so present perfect has to be used.

i.e. Due to the failure to attract viewers, this show has been closed after only two months since the day it was aired.

The second one is grammatically correct. The main part is simple past passive.

i.e. Due to the failure to attract viewers, this show was closed only two months after/since the day it was aired.

PS: past perfect. They had closed the show. Past perfect passive: The show had been closed (by them).

I hope this helps. Thanks!

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