2

2

2 — в школе будет 2 по английскому, если задания будут выполняться на ЛингвоЛайв.

(1) The letter came just before I arrived back. (=When did the letter come?) (2) The letter had come just before I arrived back. (=Was the letter there when you arrived?)

Uly, do you not overcomplicate things for a student (without giving a clear explanation)?
"We use the past perfect ... because the action happened before another action in the past" - http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/intermediate-grammar/past-perfect

I was hoping my examples would give some insight into the perfect because I know it’s hard for Russians to grasp. I don’t presume to know the poster’s level of English or eagerness to learn. Sometimes there’s a choice to be made by the speaker depending on what he wishes to express with the perfect. “The letter came before I got back” would be an explanation (in the present moment) as to why/how the speaker’s wife intercepted and read a letter sent by his mistress while he was away. “The letter had arrived before I got back” is part of a narrative in the past tense: (Five years ago) My neighbor had applied for his dream job, but hadn’t heard back in two months. A friend convinced him to go on vacation and clear his mind. It didn’t work - he spent two weeks agonizing about not getting the job and tried to end his life. Luckily he survived and made for home, a shattered man. Once there, he discovered that the letter had arrived just before he got back - he had the job!”

Since we don’t know if the speaker was saying this in the present or the past, I gave both options.

The problem is that the speaker doesn't know. I am pretty sure it's just a multi-choice task/test without any further information available.

Are you saying that if this is really the case, then the question is incorrect?

I’m not saying it’s incorrect - I’m saying that it doesn’t have one answer. It’s matter of narrative - is he talking about the present or the past?

не для школы, Одиссей кажется прав. В некоторых контекстах возможен также 4.
The letter had come before I arrived back. - Письмо уже пришло, ещё до того как я вернулся.
The letter came before I arrived back. - Письмо пришло до того, как я вернулся. Одиссей - молодец.

Если есть несколько возможных вариантов ответа, то преимущество имеет наиболее распространенный и соответствующий школьной программе грамматики.

Дело в том, что оба варианта распространено, поскольку люди говорят иногда о прошлом и иногда о настоящем 😉 и выбор времени зависит от этого. Das ist der springende Punkt.

Игорь, вы в чем-то правы, конечно. Но, не зря,видимо, многих охватывает не меньше чем возмущение, когда им всегда и везде объяснялось, что The letter had come before I arrived back - это вот это. А выясняется, что не совсем. А в связанном повествовании легко представить как увеличивается общая смысловая ошибка с ростом объёма текста.