Simple past vs. past perfect

[SharonP]

English Language Tests, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #221 "Homophone test (4)", question 2

Karrie was tired and soon became ......... with the activity her teacher assigned.

(a) border
(b) board
(c) bored
(d) bowed

English Language Tests, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #221 "Homophone test (4)", answer 2

Karrie was tired and soon became bored with the activity her teacher assigned.

Correct answer: (c) bored
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Hello, why did you use three times simple past in this sentence? I think it's better so say Karrie was tired and soon became bored with the activity her teacher HAD assigned.

sharon

[Alan]

Hi,

I can't speak for the test writer's thoughts as it's not one of my tests but I'll try to explain. I'm not really happy about your use of the word 'better'. After all there are no grades of quality on the use of tenses. As it stands in this sentence, there are three verbs and three examples of past form and they could all be construed as comtemporaneous. If you change the last one to 'had assigned', you are suggesting that the assigning took place before the other two, which obviously is another interpretation.

A
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English as a Second Language
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[Mister Micawber]

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In addition, there is no necessity to use the past perfect if the order of past events is logically obvious-- which is why the form is so little used.
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Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
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[Linda]

Hello Sharon,
I agree with both of the comments above. I made the test and when I write on a formal level, I don't normally like to use anything but the 'active' voice. In some cases, I will, however, use a 'passive' voice and this question is an example of that.
The ultimate goal of this question is to get students to recognize the correct word when compared to other words that sound the same or that are similar in sound. I used this tense because the order of events is important and I agree with the opinions listed above.
Take care,
Linda
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[Yankee]

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I see both 'tired' and 'bored' as adjectives in the sentence. 'Became' is the simple past tense in the active voice. However, whether the voice is active or passive doesn't influence the order in which things happened. The order is logically clear in the sentence without any change in tense.
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Alan]

Hi Linda,

You wrote: