had ever imagined possible

[raymondaliasapollyon]

Hi,

What is the anchor point for "had ever imagined possible" in the following passage?

More than ever before, our language and our ideas about language are changing as rapidly as the world around us. Our Information Age has been made possible, of course, by the ever-expanding technology of computers and the extraordinary explosion of information from the Internet and World Wide Web. We are receiving more information than we had ever imagined possible. (Roget’s 21[SUP]st[/SUP] Century Thesaurus)

I'd appreciate your help.

 

[GoesStation]

An unspecified time in the past.

 

[jutfrank]

I'd say it's the point at which we began receiving more information, i.e., the beginning of the Information Age.

 

[Tarheel]

The relevant phrase is more information than we had ever imagined possible. (That's what we are receiving.)

 

[raymondaliasapollyon]

I'd say it's the point at which we began receiving more information, i.e., the beginning of the Information Age.

Would there be any practical difference of meaning if the past-tense "imagined" were used instead?

 

[jutfrank]

Practical difference? I'm not totally sure what you mean.

The message would be the same, if that's what you mean.