there had been an error vs there was an error

Both phrases are correct, but they're used in different contexts. 'There had been an error' is used to refer to a past event that occurred before another past event. 'There was an error' is used to simply state that an error occurred in the past without specifying any other events.

Explained by Miss E.
Editor at TextRanch

Last updated: November 24, 2024 • 10472 views

there had been an error

This phrase is correct and commonly used when referring to a past event that occurred before another past event.

This phrase is used to describe a situation where an error had occurred in the past, typically before another event took place. It emphasizes the past occurrence of the error.

Examples:

There had been an error in the system before the upgrade.
By the time they discovered there had been an error, it was too late to fix it.

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Last updated: November 18, 2024

Dec 30, 2023 ... So I tried to purchase a game, it went through the process but said there had been an error. It charged my account for the game anyway but I ...
Sep 12, 2018 ... ... there had been an error in encoding or reading of the file. So AFAIK a file would ONLY ever contain 1 type of line ending, and that depends ...
May 18, 2020 ... Confused, he went down to the lobby to ask if there had been an error with his reservation. He found a long line of equally perplexed guests ...
Apr 23, 2017 ... This will make pdflatex finish the run, no matter if there had been an error or not, so you don't need the stop compile button at all. – ...
I returned for a second test which turned out positive and was informed that there had been an error when logging the first test. My doctor informed me that ...
Dec 14, 2007 ... I called customer service figuring there had been an error and they'd quickly credit my 228 pennies. I was wrong. A nice lady explained that ...
Nov 1, 2016 ... ... there had been an error in our reservation and that we would have to change rooms the following day. I then told her that we'd have to leave ...
The doctor told me he was going to do another blood test to see if there had been an error in results. Another hour later and he called me: it was no error ...
Aug 12, 2024 ... ... there had been an error accepting the gift and to try again soon, so I did a couple of times until now when I go to the email and accept the ...
Suppose there had been an error and that the highest hourly wage for sales managers was $75.5 instead of $67.11. This would make the mean of the hourly wages ...

Alternatives:

There was an error
An error had occurred
An error had been made
An error had taken place
An error had happened

there was an error

This phrase is correct and commonly used to simply state that an error occurred in the past without specifying any other events.

This phrase is used to straightforwardly state that an error occurred in the past. It does not provide additional context about when the error occurred in relation to other events.