Become/became

[idiotmike]

Dear all,

Here is a sentence from my reading of the article from the economist and why the author uses "became" not "becoming" after "before"?

"But “fake pressure” before became “real pressure” during the downturn."

Thank you

[emsr2d2]

Dear all,

Here is a sentence from my reading of an the article from The Economist. and Why did the author uses use "became" not "becoming" after "before"?

"But “fake pressure” before became “real pressure” during the downturn."

Thank you

"Became" was used because the writer was talking about the past.

"Fake pressure" was what was occurring "before the downturn". "Real pressure" was what was occurring "during the downturn".

Instead of saying "before the downturn", the writer simply used "before". The sentence would be broken down like this:

But / fake pressure before / became real pressure during / the downturn.

[5jj]

You could rephrase it:
“Fake pressure” before the downturn became “real pressure” during it."