[Grammar] A question about the tense choice in 'Did you find what you were looking for?"

[Lgray]

Hi there :-D
I was wondering why we don't say "Did you find what you had been looking for?" instead of "Did you find what you were looking for?". Normally, when we talk about an action that happened before another action in the past which was mentioned earlier, we use the past perfect progressive tense. I know that "Did you find what you were looking for?" sounds much more natural, but I'd like to know whether there is a grammar rule that would clarify my confusion. Thanks in advance,
Sekrety Minety.

 

[Tdol]

Re: A question about the tense choice in 'Did you find what you were looking for?"

Looking and finding are so much a part of the same process that separating them by the past perfect seems odd. Looking would be completed by the act of finding, not before it.

 

[Raymott]

Re: A question about the tense choice in 'Did you find what you were looking for?"

Normally, when we talk about an action that happened before another action in the past which was mentioned earlier, we use the past perfect progressive tense.

I don't think that's even true.
There needs to be some logical or causative connection between the two events to use the past perfect. In any case, the speaker is not certain that the object was found, so there might not be a more recent action.
I would not even say, "I found what I had been looking for" unless there was some other reason.