use of past perfect

[mishrakanchan86]

Past perfect rule is discussed pretty often but still leaves me confused
Here is a quesion
She PLAYED with her friends when the babysitter ARRIVED.

Can some one please tell me how is this sentense correct. Why are we not using Past Perfect here. This is an examle from MAnhuttan

As per rule it should be:
She HAD BEEN with her friends when the babysitter ARRIVED.

[Willy]

Past perfect rule is discussed pretty often but still leaves me confused
Here is a quesion
She PLAYED with her friends when the babysitter ARRIVED.

Can some one please tell me how is this sentense correct. Why are we not using Past Perfect here. This is an examle from MAnhuttan

As per rule it should be:
She HAD BEEN with her friends when the babysitter ARRIVED.

The sentence as written is correct,

She PLAYED with her friends when the babysitter ARRIVED.
is correct.

The action, i.e. playing, happened AFTER the babysitter arrived i.e. she played AFTER the babysitter arrived.

But Past Perfect expresses the idea that something occurred BEFORE another action in the past.

Your corrected version is missing something, i.e. main verb, played or playing. Also 'had been' is not a past perfect but a past perfect continuous and will take 'playing'.

[jlucero]

Good response Willy. As you pointed out, the "had been X" is a different verb tense (past perfect continuous) and implies happened prior to and continued through the past tense event. mishrakanchan86, a better comparison would be noticing the difference in meaning between:

1) She PLAYED with her friends when the babysitter ARRIVED.
2) She HAD PLAYED with her friends when the babysitter ARRIVED.

1) In the past, she played when the babysitter arrived (began at about the same time)
2) She had already played with her friends and was finished playing with them before the babysitter arrived (had played started and ended before the babysitter arrived)

key takeaway: past perfect form should begin and end before simple past form