Past Perfect Usage Check (Dictionary Example)

[sel6000]

Hello everyone.

My Question:
What do native speakers think of this past perfect example which I have found in Longman Dictionary?

It is difficult to appreciate how bad the situation had become.
Source: https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/appreciate

My Understanding:
If someone uses the past perfect, I would always ask before what: How bad the situation had become before what?
And since there is no established point in the past to trigger the past perfect in this particular dictionary example, I would edit it to the present perfect:
It is difficult to appreciate how bad the situation has become.

The past perfect talks about before then.
The present perfect talks about before now.

What do you think? Do you agree with my understanding?

Thank you for taking the time to consider my question.

Best wishes

 

[5jj]

And since there is no established point in the past to trigger the past perfect in this particular dictionary example, I would edit it to the present perfect:
It is difficult to appreciate how bad the situation has become.

The dictionary example lacks context - the lexicographers were illustrating the meaning of 'appreciate', not showing how the past perfect should be used. Almost certainly, the co-text of the example would have provided an earlier past-time reference.

 

[teechar]

And since there is no established point in the past to trigger justify the past perfect in this particular dictionary example, I would edit should change it to the present perfect:

No. That would not be correct. See the post above.

For example:
The refugees were desperate and they risked their lives walking across the desert in the searing sun.
It was difficult to appreciate how bad the situation had become.