Sorry for the slow response; yes, in this case it would essentially be the same. As the practice has to come before winning, the sequence is expected/obvious so the past perfect isn’t really necessary.

I won the trophy because I had practiced hard.

Can we just use practiced here? Would it still mean the same thing?

“I won the trophy because I practiced hard.( Is it same ?)

Hi Sana,

Sorry for the slow reply. This is a good question; the difference is that with the simple tense it is a specific time (i.e. one point in time), which does not work with the perfect tense. With the perfect tense, the time period represents a duration of time, not one specific point, so when we use ‘for’ or ‘since’ we’re describing how long the statement has been true, rather than assigning it a single time. I hope this clears it up?

Phil

Correct : I met him yesterday.
Incorrect : I have met him yesterday

Then why we use time period and starting point in present perfect .

I have lived here for three years
I have lived here since 2013