Could someone explain me why it’s used the past simple instead of the past perfect in the following sentence:
By that time, everybody was exhausted.
Could someone explain to me why the past simple is used instead of the past perfect in the following sentence.
We are only speaking here about one action that happened in the past. The fact that a specific point is mentioned ‘by that time…’ has no bearing.
By that time, everybody was exhausted. - no further action than being exhausted.
By that time, everybody had been tested and they were all exhausted. - past perfect for the earlier action and past simple for the later action.