there had been an error vs there was an error

Both phrases are correct, but they are used in different contexts. 'There had been an error' is used when referring 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.

Last updated: March 15, 2024 • 10402 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.

Show examples from the web [+]

6×6 Paper Box Bag Tutorial (There had been an error…!) September 1, 2014 By pootles. Stampin' Up! UK Demonstrator Pootles – 6×6 Paper Box Bag Tutorial.
Sep 16, 2014 ... There had been an error. The doctor failed to check the date on Dad's test results, which were the "old" results from before he was hospitalized.
There was a message from zotero that there had been an error with the sync. I sent the report and the report ID is 300150073. What do I need to ...
... an INS agent serving the man with an order of deportation based upon the fact that there had been an error in the paperwork filed for him when he was a child.

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.

Examples:

There was an error in the calculation.
I realized there was an error in the report.

Show examples from the web [+]

It would appear there was an error in our transport.
Extraordinarily nice and helpful hosts did gave us a good tips and accommodated and upgraded us even though there was an error with our arrival date.
Seems there was an error in his paperwork.
Perhaps there was an error in the topography of my mold.
Seems there was an error in his paperwork.
I thought that there was an error, so I stopped the disk utility process in between.
My train there, there was an error in the time table.
Update 2010/1/3 - It appears there was an error with the patch instructions, the new instructions are updated on this site FAQ section (thanks myatus).
Gregorian Calendars adopted a much more accurate calculation for leap years, resulting in it removing the imperfections of the Julian calendar whereby there was an error every 128 years of one day.
Perhaps you might have attempted to sync the iPod with a different computer, or maybe there was an error with the system and the MP3 player reset itself.
If this icon appears, it means that there was an error getting the data from the server
When trying to read the vCard, there was an error opening the file %1: %2
If there was an error on the server when outputting PDF files, then this error was not indicated on the client.
There was an error activating the script.
There was an error in your calculations.
There was an error in the paperwork.
There was an error in the Fisk autopsy.
There was an error code with the door this morning.
There was an error loading the configuration dialog for this style.
There was an error while suspending:

Alternatives:

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

What Our Customers Are Saying

Our customers love us! We have an average rating of 4.79 stars based on 283,125 votes.
Also check out our 2,100+ reviews on TrustPilot (4.9).

"Thank you!"
Sachi Nakama July 2024
"I have literally been through chat, PI, claude, bard and bing and I got conflicting answers! Thank you! Human intelligence reigns!"
Retha July 2024
"Faster than AI"
CYNTHIA December 2023
"This was very helpful and I personally think this site is the best."
Kaden October 2023
"It was extremely thorough and very helpful!"
imperialelisa October 2023
"7 years without any disappointment. Always 100% satisfied. You guys are the best in the world at what you do. Thank you so much :)"
Zubair Alam October 2023
"In a world of text messages and online communication, this is great to have as a live tool. Thank you."
Selena October 2023
"Without textranch I would be stuck!"
宏祐 October 2023
"Accuracy and fast response. Personal comments from editor. Thank you."
Clh September 2023
"I wasn't aware of this service, it's fascinating and more reliable than standard IA tools available on the internet"
Arturo September 2023
"The fact that you can get reliable fast feedback on your texts."
Vinicius Antonio August 2023
"you guys are better than grammarly i'm being honest here"
ordinary July 2023
"OMG! This is really good than any other text correction tools I've used so far. Highly recommend this."
Vehan July 2023
"Very fast and accurate. thank you."
mojtaba July 2023
"I love this app because it's help to writing skills all of students ♥️"
Tarisini July 2023
"This was exactly the mistake I was looking for, the wording dind´t sound right at first. Better than grammarly!"
Ente July 2023
"The immediate help that I received was reassuring and very satisfactory. Thanks."
priiiyanshuu July 2023
"this helps A LOT for my studies."
kathnunez02 June 2023
"Woow!! I would never have expected such precision! Thank you soooo much!!"
Berta June 2023
"Real Time Editor and not AI. Many Thanks."
Priya June 2023
"The very first thing excites me about Textranch is how much your editors care."
sepideh June 2023
"The fact that texts are checked by human editors rather than by AI, etc. I appreciate this!"
Анна June 2023
"Feel welcome, immediate response, high quality feedback"
martin.roy June 2023
"This is the best app that I have ever seen"
Burulai May 2023

there had been an error vs there was an error