[Grammar] Before long it had taken London by storm.

[kadioguy]

In 1831 we created Earl Grey in our shop on the Strand on the request of the Prime Minister. He loved it so much he gave his name to it. Before long it had taken London by storm and it is still a firm favourite amongst people who like things with a twist.

http://www.hummingbirdranch.biz/store/p579/Tea__Twinings_Earl_Grey_Loose_Tea_.html
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I don't know why the text in blue is in the past perfect tense. I would think it should be the past simple tense. Here is the time line in my mind:

a. We created Earl Grey in our shop on the Strand on the request of the Prime Minister. He loved it so much he gave his name to it.

b. Before long it took London by storm.

c. It is still a firm favourite amongst people who like things with a twist.

What do you think?

 

[jutfrank]

Past perfect is appropriate here because of the time phrase Before long.

It took London by storm in only a short span of time. We can now imagine a longer span of time by which to make a comparison. At the final point of this longer span of time, the 'taking London by storm' was already complete. In other words, taking London by storm happened first, and then the final point of the longer span of time happened after.

Is that clear? It's not easy to understand this sequencing.

 

[kadioguy]

Past perfect is appropriate here because of the time phrase Before long.

It took London by storm in only a short span of time. We can now imagine a longer span of time by which to make a comparison. At the final point of this longer span of time, the 'taking London by storm' was already complete. In other words, taking London by storm happened first, and then the final point of the longer span of time happened after.
Is that clear? It's not easy to understand this sequencing.

Does 'before long' mean 'soon'?

If so, here is what I thought:

In 1831 we created Earl Grey in our shop on the Strand on the request of the Prime Minister. He loved it so much he gave his name to it. Soon it took London by storm ....

In other words, He loved it so much he gave his name to it happened first, and then it took London by storm happened after.

 

[jutfrank]

Does 'before long' mean 'soon'?

Effectively, yes. The idea expressed is that the taking of London by storm happened soon after the creation of the tea. But literally, the phrase Before long means before the passing of a long time.

In 1831 we created Earl Grey in our shop on the Strand on the request of the Prime Minister. He loved it so much he gave his name to it. Soon it took London by storm ....

In other words, He loved it so much he gave his name to it happened first, and then it took London by storm happened after.

Yes.

 

[GoesStation]

Before long puts the reader into a time frame that's not too long after the first event. From that point of view, the action was complete and in the past so only the past perfect works.

 

[kadioguy]

1. Does it mean the following?

2. Do they both work?

a. In 1831 we created Earl Grey in our shop on the Strand on the request of the Prime Minister. He loved it so much he gave his name to it. Before long it had taken London by storm ...

b. In 1831 we created Earl Grey in our shop on the Strand on the request of the Prime Minister. He loved it so much he gave his name to it. Soon it took London by storm ...

 

[jutfrank]

1. Your diagram is not very clear to me, but I'm confident that you understand the meaning of the sentence correctly.

2. Yes. It might be clearer to say Soon after that, it took London by storm.

 

[kadioguy]

She joined the company in 1995, and before long she was promoted to sales manager.

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/before-long
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Pardon me, but why is the text in blue the simple past rather than the past perfect? (Compare it to post #1)

How about this?

She joined the company in 1995, and before long she had been promoted to sales manager.

 

[jutfrank]

She joined the company in 1995, and before long she was promoted to sales manager.

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/before-long
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Pardon me, but why is the text in blue the simple past rather than the past perfect? (Compare it to post #1)

How about this?

She joined the company in 1995, and before long she had been promoted to sales manager.

Both of the above sentences have the same meaning. The sequence of events is the same.

We can use past perfect as a way of clarifying a sequence of events. There could be various reasons to deserve such a clarification. One reason is when there are multiple events to consider.

In the first example, the writer does not feel a need to make such a clarification, since in this isolated sentence the sequencing is clear enough. If the writer wanted to continue the text with sentences describing subsequent events, the past perfect may be preferable, as the sequencing could become less clear.

 

[kadioguy]

Please let me make a summary.

(a)... Before long it had taken London by storm... (post #1)

'Long' is in the past, and Before 'long' it was complete, so the text in blue is in the past perfect tense.

(b)... before long she was promoted to sales manager. (post #8)

The same as above, but the writer does not feel a need to make such a clarification, so the text in red is simply in the simple past tense.

Am I right?

 

[jutfrank]

(a)... Before long it had taken London by storm... (post #1)

'Long' is in the past, and Before 'long' it was complete, so the text in blue is in the past perfect tense.

I don't quite follow you here. When you say "'Long' is in the past", what do you mean? In the past of what? In relation to 'taking London by storm', long is in the future, not the past.

You're getting close to overthinking this. What is important is that you understand the sequence of events, which I think you do. Just accept that Before long effectively means 'a short time after'.

 

[jutfrank]

Maybe this will help.

We conceive three events, happening at three distinct points in time, and another point in time (T4) located after T3 on the timeline. The sequence is this:

T1: The tea was created.
T2: Earl Gray gave his name to the tea.
T3: It took London by storm.
T4: An imagined point in time located at some undisclosed point after T3. (Here represented by the word long.)

We can also conceive of two time periods/durations: one short (D1), and one long (D2):

D1 = a short period of time between T2 and T3
D2 = a longer period of time between T2 and T4

We can use past perfect to make it clear that T3 happened before T4.

 

[kadioguy]

I don't quite follow you here. When you say "'Long' is in the past", what do you mean? In the past of what? In relation to 'taking London by storm', long is in the future, not the past.

Sorry to make you confused. I hope this makes my idea clearer.

'Long' (a) is in the past, and Before 'long' it (b) was complete, so it is in the past perfect tense.

 

[jutfrank]

Sorry to make you confused. I hope this makes my idea clearer.

'Long' (a) is in the past, and Before 'long' it (b) was complete, so it is in the past perfect tense.

Yes, I think you've got it. Tell me if you understand my post #12.

 

[kadioguy]

Yes, I think you've got it. Tell me if you understand my post #12.

Thank you for spend time on my question. How about this diagram? I tried my best. But I am not sure if T3 is closer to T2 or T4
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In 1831 we created Earl Grey in our shop on the Strand on the request of the Prime Minister. He loved it so much he gave his name to it. Before long it had taken London by storm ...

T1: The tea was created.
T2: Earl Gray gave his name to the tea.
T3: It took London by storm.
T4: An imagined point in time located at some undisclosed point after T3. (Here represented by the word long.)
D1 = a short period of time between T2 and T3
D2 = a longer period of time between T2 and T4

T4 is in the past, and before T4, T3 is complete, so T3 is in the past perfect tense.

D1 refers to the period of time, which is after Earl Gray gave his name to the tea and before It took London by storm.

D2 refers to the period of time, which is after Earl Gray gave his name to the tea and before long.