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I was reading my diary, and in one of the pages, there was a sentence:

I have been using Chrome happily until recently I was told that Chrome kept sending my private photos back to their headquarter without my consent.

I think I should change the tense, "I have been using Chrome happily",
to "I had been using Chrome happily",
because the clause, "until recently I was told that Chrome..."
can not happen before "I have been using Chrome happily". Am I right?

Please help! Thank you.

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  • 2
    You're probably overanalysing things. Most native speakers probably wouldn't notice (or care) which form you used. But idiomatically I think both versions are a bit "wordy". I'd probably have written I was using Chrome [quite] happily until I was recently told that... Or even more likely, I was quite happily using Chrome until..., if the implication was that I didn't use Chrome at all after that (as opposed to continuing to use it, but no longer "happily"). – FumbleFingers Mar 2 '16 at 16:53
  • @FumbleFingers I was once told that the past perfect continuous is not widely used. Native speakers prefer the past continuous, for instance. Is this true? – Alejandro Mar 2 '16 at 17:20
  • The case is closed to : I have been waiting... and I am waiting... – Herman Nz Mar 2 '16 at 17:21
  • As I read it, "using Chrome happily until recently" indicates you are no longer using it. Therefore I would use had been. Or use was as @FumbleFingers pointed out. – user3169 Mar 2 '16 at 17:40
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In your example

I have been using Chrome
I had been using Chrome
I was using Chrome

are all correct and can be used, the reason is because the rest of your sentence anchors the time in the past

until recently

though we don't know until how recently in the past.

the slight problem with your sentence is the conjunction, there is none

when I was told

would help your sentence be smoother

I have been using Chrome happily until recently when I was told...

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I have been using Chrome happily until recently I was told that Chrome kept sending my private photos back to their headquarter without my consent.

Both continuous:

past perfect:

I'd been using Chrome happily until I was told that Chrome sends my private photos back to their headquarters without my consent.

past:

I was using Chrome happily until I found out that it sends my private photos back to their headquarters without my consent.

Recently should go in the until-clause:

... until I was told recently ...

... until I found out recently...

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