it was the last day of the year and a large of crowd people had gathered under the town hall clock

题目

it was the last day of the year and a large of crowd people had gathered under the town hall clock
为什么这里要用 had gathered 这个不是用在过去的过去么?直接用gathered 不行么?还是因为之前有WAS了要表明顺序才有?
或者改成were gathering :O

答案

这句话的语境本身是过去时,而人们聚集肯定是已经聚集过了,发生在语境之前,所以用过去完成时.此外,用过去完成时能体现出人们早早的聚集到镇里那种热闹情景,很合理.