I see a lot of errors with “ago” and “earlier.” It can be tricky to explain the difference, but I will do my best.
Use “ago” to refer to a point relative to the present. For instance, I can say:
“I met my wife four years ago.”
That means I met my wife four years before the present time (now).
Or I can say:
“Simon was born in Chicago twenty-five years ago.”
That means Simon was born in Chicago twenty-five years before the present time (now).
Don’t use “earlier” to talk about a point relative to the present.
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Use “earlier” to talk about something that happened relative to a particular time in the past. For instance I can say:
“I met my wife in 1982. Four years earlier, I had been dating Suzy.”
That means I dated Suzy four years before 1982.
Do you get what I mean? Here’s another:
“Simon was born in Chicago twenty-five years ago. His parents had moved there four years earlier.”
That means Simon’s parents moved there four years before Simon was born.
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Honestly, I am not sure if it is better to use the past perfect tense of the simple past tense for the “earlier” parts. The past perfect tense sounds a bit clunky in the second example, but that’s just my opinion.