I had expected to be in a....or I expected to be in a....? which is correct?

Question

this is my complete sentence: The flowers were what I expected to be in a flower store, but didn't expect so many different ones.

Answer 1

I'd go with "had expected", because ur expectation was in the past, now that u are in the store. I would change the 2nd part, cos ur using "expected" twice in the same sentence.
Eg:" The flowers were what I had expected to be in a flower store, but there were many more than I had thought possible."
Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Definitely 'had expected' because you had expected
that before you arrived to the store. That is the most
common usage of the Past Perfect Tense.

Answer 3

They're technically both correct- "I had expected" is a past imperfect usage of the infinitive "to expect," which means that it was something in the past that occurred more than once, something you used to expect rather than something that you simply expected once n the past, if that makes any sense at all. Like if you said, "When I was a kid, I had hoped to get a bike for Christmas one year, but it never came," that is something that you hoped for each year of your childhood, instead of saying "One Christmas when I was 9, I hoped for a bike." I hope that makes sense.

Answer 4

the first one

Answer 5

I'd go with 'had expected'.

Answer 6

both are ok. i always try to use the fewest words possible. drop the "had".
note to me: drop the ''always".

Answer 7

both is correct
depend on what you mean