James had just walked into the bank and that was when he got a message

Hi,thanks for the question
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
The meaning is that James just walked in the bank,and at the same time he got a message about something.

(A) and that was when he got a message
-- wrong."That" can't not refer to "James had just walked into the bank"

(B) and then he got a message
-- wrong. This me James walked into the bank and then got a message.

(C) when a message was received by him
-- wrong. This is not concise.

(D) when they told him
--wrong. No antecedence for "they"

(E) when he got a message
--That's it!! "when" is an adverbial modifier

I feel this scenario has two possibilities:

1) James walked into the bank and received the message at the same time
2) James walked into the bank and then received the message.

The answer choice can vary depending on the possibility.

Does the adverb 'JUST' play a crucial role in understanding the context?

according to Kaplan method, "when" can be only used for TIME words only.
In this question, how E is the answer.

"When" is referring to the time when Jim got the message. You do not need to have the time word itself in the sentence, because "when" is not necessarily a relative pronoun (referring to a time word) - it can also be used as an adverb. "When" used as an adverb does not require the time word.

Hi
cheque had finally been cleared. Can you please explain why is past perfect used here?

I'm not an expert but if you look at the timeline of events in this sentence, it will make sense.

James had walked into the bank ---- He's already in the bank
He received a message ----- He received the message after he walked into the bank.
His cheque had been cleared ---- This basically means, the cheque was cleared before he received the message.

And that's why we've used Past Perfect here. Past Perfect is basically used for 2 past events in which one event had been completed before the other event took place.
For e.g.
The car had broken down before the mechanic fixed it.
Or James had been hungry before he ate a sandwich.

Hope this helps.

sarathgopinath cleared happens before walked,,,just to indicate the sequence...
hope that helps

1) James walked into the bank and received the message at the same time
2) James walked into the bank and then received the message.

The answer choice can vary depending on the possibility.

Does the adverb 'JUST' play a crucial role in understanding the context?[/quote]

In this case the past perfect "had walked" makes the use of "when" necessary.

James walked into the bank and then received the message... correct (Walking into happened before receiving)
James had walked into the bank when he received the message... correct. (Walking into happened before receiving)
James had walked into the bank and then received the message... wrong. (redundacy: "and then" implies the sequence - past perfect not required)
James walked into the bank when he received the message... doubtful (meaning changed: Walking into and receiving happened exactly simultaneouly. Preferable would be "was walking into" - past continuous depicts a background event when another event happened.)[/quote]

Hi
cheque had finally been cleared. Can you please explain why is past perfect used here?[/quote]

I'm not an expert but if you look at the timeline of events in this sentence, it will make sense.

James had walked into the bank ---- He's already in the bank
He received a message ----- He received the message after he walked into the bank.
His cheque had been cleared ---- This basically means, the cheque was cleared before he received the message.

And that's why we've used Past Perfect here. Past Perfect is basically used for 2 past events in which one event had been completed before the other event took place.
For e.g.
The car had broken down before the mechanic fixed it.
Or James had been hungry before he ate a sandwich.

Hope this helps.[/quote]


Thank you so much for the help people. I was clear about the usage of had for sequencing of events.
The part where I am confused is right now the statement has 2 past perfect usages.
'James had walked' & 'cheque had been cleared'. Doesn't that create a confusion of time sequencing? Or are the 2 events unrelated?

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