stress on a fact in the past

[ostap77]

"There had been quite a few playwrights,who managed to reach the audience"
Is it OK use "had been" instead of "were" to accantuate a point in the past? Is it possible to use Past Simple in the second part of the sentece?

 

[RonBee]

I think "have" would work better than "had" there. Try:
.

There have been quite a few playwrights who managed to reach an audience.



​

.

 

[ostap77]

I think "have" would work better than "had" there. Try:
.

There have been quite a few playwrights who managed to reach an audience.



​

.

What if I add "during the 80s"?

"There had been quite a few playwrights during the 80s, who managed to reach an audience"?

 

[e2e4]

/A learner/

What if I add "during the 80s"?

were

 

[ostap77]

/A learner/


were

What If I want to accentuate the fact that there were?

 

[e2e4]

/A learner/

I haven't got you this time.

 

[ostap77]

/A learner/

I haven't got you this time.

I mean emphasize.

 

[e2e4]

Emphasise what?

What If I want to accentuate the fact that there were?

What if I wanted to accentuate the fact that...The rest I don't understand!

What "there were" is supposed to mean?

I see no place for the past perfect in the sentence under any circumstances.

Could this form below work for you?

There were quite a few playwrights who were managing to reach an audience.

 

[Raymott]

What if I add "during the 80s"?

"There had been quite a few playwrights during the 80s who managed to reach an audience"?

No, you still need two events in the past (at least implicitly) to use the past perfect. Emphasis is not a role for the past perfect by itself.

"As the twentieth century drew to an end, playwrights began to lose touch with their audiences. There had been quite a few playwrights during the 80s who managed to reach an audience. Where were they in the 90s?"
You could use the simple past here, but note that the use of the past perfect prevents the ambiguity of counting the "playwrights in the 80s" among "the playwrights at the end of the century". The third sentence clarifies that; but the use of the past perfect prevents you from having to read the passage a few times to get its meaning.

PS: I've removed your incorrect comma before the "who" clause.

 

[e2e4]

/A learner/

PS: I've removed your incorrect comma before the "who" clause.

Then the "who" clause could be a defining relative clause, right?

 

[Raymott]

/A learner/


Then the "who" clause could be a defining relative clause, right?

It has to be defining, unless you're claiming that all playwrights of the 80s managed to reach an audience.
What is meant is, "There had been quite a few [playwrights during the 80s who managed to reach an audience]" or, "Of those playwrights of the 80s, quite a few managed to reach an audience"

 

[RonBee]

Just putting something in the past tense stresses that an event happened in the past.