"On occasion he had even been entrusted with the rectification of ‘The Times’ leading articles, which were written entirely in Newspeak."
Why can't we say: "he was entrusted"?
1 Answer
This is covered in one of the responses to the question: Was vs had been
'Had been' means he might still be entrusted, but definately was at the time being referred to. 'Was' means he no longer is entrusted now.
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I think you've got that the wrong way around. When I pass my test, I was entrusted with my driver's license, and I still have it... Jul 20, 2014 at 8:51