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It was Kuchela's friendship rather than his friendship that drove him to Krishna's side.

Could it be had driven him?

You told me yesterday.

Could it be had told?

Anubhav
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  • You ask how to choose the "correct" tense, but the perfect is not "incorrect" in either of your sentences. You _can_ use the perfect in both cases. The question is, why do you need to use it? What do you think the perfect expresses that the simple past does not? – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Oct 15 '16 at 04:10
  • Why shouldn't we use it? The sentences in both cases will be synonyms? – Anubhav Oct 15 '16 at 09:36
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    The question is "Why is it necessary to use the perfect?" A good principle is [**Don't use Past Perfect unless you really have to.**](http://ell.stackexchange.com/a/5666/37009) What does "You _had told_ me yesterday" express that is not expressed by just "You told me yesterday"? – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Oct 15 '16 at 18:07
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    We would only need the past perfect if it were necessary to describe the past event explicitly from the perspective of _another_ time in the past: _"Dave realized later that it was Pradeep's friendship rather than his own that **had driven him** to Oscar the Grouch's side."_ In your sentence, the simple past is all that is needed. – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Oct 16 '16 at 01:46

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