Past Perfect vs Past Simple

Lady Liz said:

Hi!

Here you have my most recent doubt:

"My sister had finished brushing her teeth before she went out with her friends."

Have the tenses been properly used in the sentence above, or should we change their order by starting with the simple past and using the past perfect afterwards?

Many thanks!

Liz

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Lady Liz said:

What if I say "He finished reading the novel before he had gone to the disco."? (This is an exercise from an English test!)

Thanks!!!

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bhaisahab said:

That's not a natural sentence.

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Lady Liz said:

What if I say "He finished reading the novel before he had gone to the disco."? (This is an exercise from an English test!)

Thanks!!!

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MikeNewYork said:

If one wishes to use the past perfect in that sentence, one would say, "He had finished reading the novel before he went to the disco." The past perfect is used for the earlier action. However, because the adverb "before" indicates that timing of the events, the past perfect is not needed.

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mihallure said:

All the grammar books that I've read suggested that in the above pattern Past Perfect should be used in the earlier action (as you said) followed by "before" + Past Tense. Should I understand now that this is not natural and should be avoided even in writing?
Thank you.

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