The Hamas operation in Israel [___] for more than a year

[Marika33]

I'm having difficulty translating a line from my language. I'd like to ask you, which are natural options and which are unnatural? By "unnatural" I mean something that might be misinterpreted by the listener or might sound like you are illiterate.

• The Hamas operation in Israel [___] for more than a year, almost 2,000 fighters took part in it, and there are 40,000 more in Gaza.
  
  
• planned
• was planning
• was planned
• was being planned
• was under/in planning

I'm leaning towards using a past tense (as this happened in the past), but maybe native speakers would choose a perfect tense, so I added options just in case.

• has planned
• has been planning
• has been planned
• has been being planned
• has been under/in planning

 

[Piscean]

The Hamas operation in Israel [___] for more than a year, almost 2,000 fighters took part in it, and there are 40,000 more in Gaza.

That sentence needs a full stop or semi-colon after 'year'.

• was planned

That's possible, but I'd go for 'had been planned'. The planning took place before the past-time operation.

 

[Marika33]

That sentence needs a full stop or semi-colon after 'year'.

That's possible, but I'd go for 'had been planned'. The planning took place before the past-time operation.

Thanks! What do you think about other options, are they unnatural?

 

[Piscean]

Yes.

 

[Marika33]

Even this one?

The Hamas operation in Israel [___] for more than a year, almost 2,000 fighters took part in it, and there are 40,000 more in Gaza.

• was being planned

I thought you said that (limited) duration of a past situation is a classic situation for the past continuous. (source)

That's a classic situation for the past continuous - (limited) duration of a past situation.

 

[Piscean]

In the sentence we are discussing, I feel that the anteriority of the planning is important.

 

[Marika33]

In the sentence we are discussing, I feel that the anteriority of the planning is important.

How does the past continuous "was being planned" make the anteriority of the planning unimportant?

 

[Piscean]

The past perfect stress the anteriority of one situation to another.

 

[jutfrank]

If you're trying to translate, you ought to take the wider context of the narrative into account. Until I saw that, I wouldn't want to suggest any of those options.