*كانت
؟

I just added another one with your suggestion...but I'm not sure if there's anything wrong with this version...I don't have any good reasoning to defend it (other than that the feminine gender is already indicated somewhere else in the sentence) but a google search of كان عليها (as a possible usage) gives a lot of results

http://bit.ly/aaV2Lm

(sorry for double-posting)

I could understand your reasoning (without asking you for it); but I thought that maybe another option with "kanat" could also be plausible. I tried to google it beforehand, and found more occurrences with "kanat" than with "kana". So I tried to ask you whether any one of them had priority over the other, in your opinion.

"kana alayha" is somewhat different (at least in my opinion).

both versions are equally good IMHO, though the one with 'kanat' might be a bit redundant in this case...

I just saw your second version, and I like it, too (I like it better than the first one - but I guess the first is also proper Arabic).

on second thought, I think this sentence works fine on paper...but I could imagine it could be a problem when actually spoken (I can't think of a good tag for it, any suggestions?)

I don't have any idea regarding a suitable tag - do you think an "idiom" would be a right choice? I believe it's normal Arabic, not more of an idiom than "to be on the threshold of..." or "be on the verge of". Well, unless these are idioms :)

I'll just take the easy way out and tag it as 'classical' :P

just for the record, here's some examples from recognized print that I think might be relevant to this sentence:

"لكن تقرير صحفية ايطالية كان قد أكدت منذ فترة أن المدرب الإيطالي الشهير والتر زنجا، مدرب كاتانيا المقال، قد وافق على تدريب النصر."
جريدة المدينة
http://www.al-madina.com/node/236791

"يذكر ان لجنة العقوبات كان قد قررت استبعاد العراق من النهائيات"
جريدة الرياض
http://www.alriyadh.com/2008/02...cle317831.html

"وبعد بث الصور الصادقه على الهواء من مسجد ال رشدان ..كان قد خرجت كل رغبه فى التضييق عن نطاق اى سيطره"
مجلة روز اليوسف
http://www.abkamal.net/News/News.asp?id=9981

I'll read them thoroughly later on, as I need to go out. But what I intended was to suggest the likely occurrence of "kanat" in your first sentence, as in the following:

http://tinyurl.com/2b54kfc

I really can't comment on which is more common...both sound equally good to my ear.

Thanks. I read your example sentences, and I do think that you rest your case. Quite convincing.