Why do people sometimes use the past perfect form of a verb when the past would suffice? (e.g. "you had mentioned")


I noticed that my American friends tend to use the past perfect form when they use the verb mention in its past form, almost despite of the context of the sentence. I hear them say "you had mentioned" a lot more often even in situations where the use of simple past would have been perfectly fine. Have you noticed it too and is it one of those unwritten rules, or is there a more formal explanation to it?


It seems like there was more verbs like that, but I am having a hard time remembering it now. If I do, I will edit the post and likely change the title to accommodate other verbs.



Answer



I agree that these are politeness forms that don't seem to relate directly or literally to the standard point in time corresponding to the tense being used. It seems to me that what "I was wondering" and "You had mentioned" have in common is that they soften the statement by moving it farther into the past. "I was wondering ... [but I'm only now bringing it up because it's not that urgent]" "You had mentioned ... [but maybe you wouldn't mention it now, so we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to]." "I thought" for "I think" would be another form that I think fits this pattern: "I thought ... [but now that you have said something else, I might be open to persuasion]."


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