Was/ had been

[Dear life]

At that time, her age was the same as was/ had been her brother's five years ago.

I was just reading the Tintern Abbey where Wordsworth, during his second visit of the place, sees in Dorothy the same passions, he had five years ago, on his first visit. So, it's just an assumption that at the time of the second visit Dorothy's age may be the same as was Wordsworth's five years before the second visit( at the time of the first visit).

If I want to write it in past, what should I choose from the pair?
Please help!

 

[PaulQ]

The verb is (a) in the wrong place, (b) a verb is not needed (c) use "earlier" instead of "ago".

At that time, her age was the same as her brother's was/ had been five years earlier.
However, Dorothy would always have five years younger than her brother and thus the sentence does not make much sense.

You may mean
At the time of her visit, she was the same age that her brother had been when he had visited Tintern Abbey five years earlier.

 

[lingobingo]

Wordsworth was actually less than two years older than Dorothy.

 

[Dear life]

Thanks PQ...
Could you please tell me why 'ago' can't be used here?

Wordsworth was actually less than two years older than Dorothy.

Hey LB, thanks for the information

 

[PaulQ]

Could you please tell me why 'ago' can't be used here?

Because you mean "earlier than the time of which I am speaking."

 

[lingobingo]

Ago means earlier than NOW (= this time) — so "at that time" (= THEN) and "ago" don't belong in the same sentence. As PQ says, earlier is relative to whatever time applies within the context of what is being spoken/written about.

 

[Dear life]

Thanks PQ & LB...Got it.
However, I guess both can apply in the following case.
A: Am I late? When did you reach?
B: I just reached five minutes ago.
OR-
I reached five minutes earlier.
Can both work here?

 

[heypresto]

'Reach' is the wrong verb here. I think you mean 'arrive'?

A: Am I late? When did you arrive?
B: I just arrived five minutes ago.

I arrived five minutes earlier.

 

[bicontinental]

A: Am I late? When did you get here?
B: Oh, just five minutes ago.
In this example we are making a time reference to the present moment, now, so we use 'ago'

Let's say you're telling someone about this meeting at a later date. Your time reference is not 'now' because that's when you're telling the story and not when it happened. You might say,
When I got there, she was waiting for me so I asked her how long she had been there. She reassured me she had arrived just five minutes earlier.

 

[Lun-14]

'Reach' is the wrong verb here.

Hi, HP.
May I please dare to ask why "reach" is wrong here? "Reach" and "arrive" both mean get to a place. I'm bewildered...

 

[kentix]

We can use arrive by itself.
-- I arrived.

But we don't use reach by itself.
-- I reached.

But we can use it with here, there, and other words.
-- I reached here five minutes ago.
-- I expected to get to the top before she did but I reached there at the same time she did.
-- I reached the top of the mountain at 5 pm.

Even so, other ways are more common.
-- I got here five minutes ago.
-- I expected to get to the top before she did but I arrived there at the same time she did.
-- I made it to the top of the mountain at 5 pm.

 

[Dear life]

Got it! Thanks everyone

But we don't use reach by itself.
-- I reached.

So, 'reached' must be followed by the place where we arrive at. Am I right?
E.g. I reached my house. I arrived ten minutes earlier.
Whereas,
I arrived at my house.I reached ten minutes earlier

Please let me know if I have grasped it correctly.

 

[velisarius]

There are previous threads that discuss reach/arrive.

"get to a place", reach a place" and "arrive at a place"
arrive/reach

 

[kentix]

Yes. And read those threads for more.

 

[Dear life]

Thanks velisarius & kentix