Learn English – Meaning using *if it had been* and *if it was*

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Please help me to understand meaning of below sentence

When to use was and had been in conditional sentence?

a) "The station house officer said if it had been an accidental death they could file case or investigate"

b) "The station house officer said if it was an accidental death they could file case or investigate"

Best Answer

Had been uses the pluperfect tense. Since you've already established the temporal point of reference as the time of the officer making the statement, had been refers to the accidental death as the moment

Was is simple past. This can refer to the accidental death as any time in the past, using the present as the temporal reference.

The difference in meaning is insignificant. Both are acceptable to use.