<p>The house he had dipicted/dipicted in the novel,published in 1856, is still standing firm.</p>
<p>depicted OR had depicted </p>
<p>explain plz</p>
<p>The main clause says “The house is still standing.” This is in the present tense. Therefore, something that happened before now can be in the simple past.</p>
<p>Past perfect is used to indicate something that happened before something in the past.</p>
<p>You might argue that the author had to depict the house before the novel could be published, and therefore the choice should be “had depicted.” I don’t think this is correct, because the verb “depict” should take its form from the time relative to the main verb, “is.” The phrase “published in 1856” is a participial phrase modifying “the novel,” and for that reason, I don’t believe that it should control the tense of “depict.” The verb “depicted” belongs to a phrase that modifies house. The sentence is equivalent to: The house that he depicted in the novel, published in 1856, is still standing firm.</p>