Janet,
Although grammatically standard in form (from my perspective), I suppose in a technical sense the usage could be considered non-standard. I know my ESL students would be confused because they would expect another clause in the simple past to follow, such as, "I had forgotten that you had asked me to send you the new rubric until your picture jogged my memory." Without a clause in the simple past, it may seem unnecessary to use the past perfect perhaps partly due to the fact that it's self-evident that the "forget" and "ask" actions are complete since you're now sending the email.
However, as a native speaker of English, I would not be confused by your usage; to me it would in fact convey an emphasis on the sense of completion that comes along with the perfect aspect. The fact that you "had forgotten" highlights the implication that you now remember. You haven't forgotten the person. That's just my interpretation though.
I, too, have been more keenly aware of the past perfect when I encounter it due to all the (sometimes nonconstructive) talk about it on this list. So, perhaps I can find a silver lining in those exhausting threads!
Regards,
John Alexander
On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 1:39 PM, Castilleja, Janet
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hello
I sent this message to a colleague today:
I had forgotten that you had asked me to send you the new Eng 99B IWA rubric. Here you are!
I'm only posting it to see if it makes anyone's head explode. The use seems defensible to me, since both actions seem (to me anyway) to have taken place overtime in the past and also to have been completed in the past. Every time I use the past perfect now (as in the previous sentence), it jumps out at me.
Janet
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