Past perfert with After/before

[shashank.sharma.chd]

Hi

Saw following example used by a Magoosh instructor on Gmatclub to illustrate the usage of Past Perfect

Before dinner last night, I had been reviewing the accounts in my office.
But as per Manhattan SC, we don't need to use past perfect when sequence is clear(purpose solved by using Before/After)

But I have come across many such example where both Had and words like after/before/until have been used in the same sentence while Manhattan has clearly mentioned such usage to be wrong. So can I use the technique mentioned in Manhattan when stuck between choices?

[RonPurewal]

yeah -- unless there's some additional context there, you should just use "was reviewing".