Past Pefect Tenses.

[blissful]

Please advise if there is a need to use the past perfect tenses for these sentences.

1) We went to the restaurant which John had recommended to us.
2) We went to the restaurant which John recommended to us.

3) In spite of the fact that he had sprained his right thumb, Alan participated in the Asia Tennis Tournament.
4) In spite of the fact that he sprained his right thumb, Alan participated in the Asia Tennis Tournament.

[SlickVic9000]

(Not a Teacher)

The past perfect doesn't seem to be strictly necessary in either of those sentences, but when I read them to myself I find that I throw in a "had" anyway. I guess it just helps ascertain that a particular event in the past happened before another event in the past. especially in the case of the second pair of sentences.

[5jj]

These might be of interest:

The Past Perfect

Problems with the Past Perfect & Past Simple

[Raymott]

Please advise if there is a need to use the past perfect tenses for these sentences.

1) We went to the restaurant which John had recommended to us.
2) We went to the restaurant which John recommended to us.

3) In spite of the fact that he had sprained his right thumb, Alan participated in the Asia Tennis Tournament.
4) In spite of the fact that he sprained his right thumb, Alan participated in the Asia Tennis Tournament.

You have a choice, so any opinion about these pairs is subjective. I'd want to use "had" in the second example. The first doesn't seem to need it as much.