Комбинация "Had been"
Until recently, however, special schools had admittedly been a "one-way street".
Why had admittendly been but have admittendly been? Когда нужно have been, а когда had been?
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Answers · 6
1
Recently refers to a point in the past. It's not a specific point but it's still definitely in the past. "had been" refers to time before "recently".
The past simple "were" would have been acceptable but "have been" refers to time up to the present. The present here is after "recently". I hope this makes sense.
0
HAVE/HAS + past participle is Present Perfect Simple
~An action that started in the past and continues to the present.
e.g. I have lived in this city for a year.
~An action that happened before now(unspecified time)
e.g.I have been to the USA twice.
HAD + past participle is Past Perfect Simple
~An action that happened before a time in the past
e.g.When I arrived at the office this morning, I discovered that I had left my computer on the night before.
So in your sentence PastPerfectSimple is used because it was happening until a certain point in the past- recently.
Hope this helps.
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