Past Perfect and Until

Question

In the book which I use to prepare for the IELTS exam they have the following sentence:

The situation remained unchanged for the next two years until more universities were opened.

I do not understand why remained, not had remained is correct.

First happened the situation and only then the universities...

Teacher Lee · Answer

Original:  The situation remained unchanged for the next two years until more universities were opened.

"Had remained" refers to the earlier of two completed events in the past.

"For the next two years" refers to the "future" from that past point in time, so the context doesn't support the use of the past perfect tense.

One Answer