Question: Why does Steinbeck, when describing an old man's death, say "his breath *was* stopped" rather than "his breath *had* stopped"?

The context and full sentence below:

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> Grampa seemed to be struggling; all his muscles twitched. And suddenly he jarred as though under a heavy blow. He lay still and his breath *was stopped*. Casy looked down at the old man's face and saw that it was turning a blackish purple.
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*[The Grapes of Wrath](https://books.google.it/books?id=ClXiwSYzjtYC&pg=PT167&lpg=PT167&dq=%22his%20breath%20was%20stopped%22&source=bl&ots=xgo3_mTm55&sig=HyER_6Uurgj4BfZuH2Dmk7aY_aU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwix-7q6ornZAhWGXhQKHTHQD-UQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=%22his%20breath%20was%20stopped%22&f=false)* by John Steinbeck

Is this an example of the simple past passive voice?

Answer: 
I think people have been misinterpreting the question.

I believe the poster wants to know how to rephrase "They invited their friend(s)" to have each of those four meanings.

Here's how I'd do it:

1. They invited their friend.
2. They each invited a friend.
3. (Can't think of a way to concisely say one or more)
4. They each invited some friends.
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> They invited only one person, who is the common friend of all of them.
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This means that a common or mutual friend of them all has been invited.

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> They invited one friend for each of them.
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This may be rephrased to "Each one of them invited a friend."

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> They invited one or more friend for each of them.
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Each of them invited one friend or more. Similarly, this may be rephrased to "Each one of them invited one or more friends."

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> They invited more than one friend for each of them.
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This may be rephrased to "Each one of them invited more than one friend."