They waited until the rain had stopped

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

They waited until the rain had stopped.
Are the tenses in the above sentence correct?

1 Like
2

Yes, that works. You could also use the simple past ‘stopped’ by suggesting that the two actions happened very closely together.

2 Likes
3

They had waited until the rain stopped.
Is the above sentence also acceptable?

1 Like
4

That really needs a follow up to explain the use of the past perfect. For example -

They had waited until the rain stopped before they started their journey.

2 Likes
5

Not to forget that continuous forms are possible too such as: They had been waiting for more than 3 hours until the rain finally stopped and they could start their journey.

6

Hi Torsten,

I’m not too happy with that sentence. I think you need ‘before’ in place of ‘until’ as you have introduced the cotinuous form.

1 Like
7

So the correct sentence would read “They had been waiting for more than 3 hours before the rain finally stopped and they could start their journey.”

1 Like
8

I’d be happier with that.

2 Likes
9

They had waited until the rain had stopped before they started their journey.

Is the above sentence acceptable?

1 Like
10

Using the past perfect twice in one sentence doesn’t make sense here.

1 Like