Is it more natural to speak in simple past or past perfect when explaining past events to a friend? It seems like Americans use more simple past in everyday life than past perfect. I found this example online:
I had almost completed my essay when my computer suddenly crashed and I noticed that I had forgotten to save the document.
Is it wrong to say the following instead?
I was almost done with my essay when my computer suddenly crashed and I noticed that I forgot to save the document.
Maybe it's just my friends, but I rarely hear them speak in past perfect, so I'm really torn about using past perfect when it isn't necessary.
Answer
I am an American, and had not noticed this phenomenon. I would have said "I was almost done with my essay when the computer crashed and I found that I had forgotten to save it". So, I decided to check a few N-grams to try to isolate it.
he had decided , he decided (American) 
he had decided , he decided (British) 
I had forgotten, I forgot (American) 
I had forgotten, I forgot (Brithish) 
she had lost, she lost (American) 
she had lost, she lost (British) 
From this data we can see that:
- Simple past is used more than past perfect in books.
- The simple past is used slightly less often in British books than American books.
- It varies widely depending on the verb.
This may depend on the verb in question, but we can expect to read the simple past two to four times as often as the perfect past.
I would assume that spoken English is even more biased towards the simple past than written English.
I would hypothesize that this phenomenon is due at least some of the following factors:
- For many verbs the "past" is easier or more natural to recall than the "past participle".
- Using "had" plus the past participle may add two or more syllables compared to the simple past. It is common in spoken English to use contractions and merge words together.
- A general laziness in speech.
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