Past Perfect
by Cecilia C. López Ramírez
The past perfect tense is formed by
the past of the auxiliary verb have plus the past
participle of the main verb:
Subject + Had + Verb in
Past Participle
Timeline:
When I got home, my mother had finished preparing dinner.
Earlier
past Past
I left school at 6 p.m. My mother started preparing dinner
at 6 p.m. I got home at 7:15
p.m.
and finished at 7 p.m.
Affirmative
and Negative:
I
He/She/It
You/We/They
|
‘d
hadn’t
|
arrived
|
Questions:
Had
|
I
he/she/It
you/we/they
|
left already?
|
Short
answers:
Yes, I had. / No, I hadn’t.
Uses:
1. To
express an action in the past which happened before another action in the past:
When
I arrived at the theatre, the play had
already started.
When
George died, he and Anne had been married for nearly fifty
years.
2. To
show that something happened before a specific time in the past:
I had never seen such
a beautiful beach before I went to Kauai.
Kristine had never been to
an opera before last night.
3. After
past verbs of saying and thinking, to talk about things that had happened
before the saying or thinking took
place:
I
told her that I had finished my
homework.
I
thought I had sent the invitation a
week before.
4. To
express something that happened in the past but is important at the time of
reporting:
I
couldn’t get into the house. I had
lost my keys.
Teresa
wasn’t at home. She had gone shopping.
5. To
talk about past events that did not happen, like conditions, hypothesis and
wishes:
I
would have helped him if he had
asked.
I
wish I hadn’t spent so
much money last month.
6. In
reported speech. For example, if the spoken words are in Simple Past, the Past
Perfect will be used in reporting those words:
Spoken
words: I lost my keys.
Reported
speech: Jenny said that she had lost
her keys.
7. To
say how long something had continued up to a past moment:
She
told me that her father had been ill
since Christmas.
When
they got married, they had known
each other for 15 years.
8. With state
verbs (have, be and know), to show that something started
in the past and continued up until another action in the past:
We had had that
car for ten years before it broke down.
By the time Alex finished
his studies, he had been in London for over eight years.
9. In
the main clause of adverbial clauses (especially with the expression by the time):
By the time
Sam got there, Ann had already left.
By the time the
police arrived, the two men had
disappeared.
10. In
more formal writing such as fiction or narrative. For example, the writer uses
the Simple Past to say that an event happened (Bill felt great), and the uses
the Past Perfect to explain what had happened before that event:
Bill
felt great that evening. Earlier in
the day, Annie had caught one fish,
and he had caught three. They had had a delicious picnic near the
lake and then had gone swimming
again. It had been a nearly perfect
vacation day.
When NO to use Past Perfect:
1. To
say that something happened some time ago, or to give a past reason for a
present situation:
I
left some photos to be developed.
Are they ready yet?
(NOT
I had left some photos…)
Simon
Mark, who worked for my father in
the 1980s, is now living in Greece
(NOT
Simon Mark, who had worked for my father…)
2. If you put the words after or before,
it is better to use Simple Past (instead of Past Perfect) with both actions
because these words make the time relationship clear. For example:
Before
Carol got home, Sam cooked the dinner.
After
Sam cooked the dinner, Carol got home.
Complete
the spaces with the correct form of the verb. Follow the example:
1. Fabian
___had worked___ (work)
as a waiter for years before he decided to open his own restaurant.
2. The
soccer player ______________ (negotiate) a new contract a month before he was
hospitalized for a car accident.
3. He
__________ just ____________ (arrive) at the office when the thunderstorm began.
4. The
cake didn’t rise because my mother _________________ (forget) to add the baking
powder to the recipe.
5. I
went to the box office at lunchtime, but they _______________ (already/sell)
all the tickets for the match.
Match
the columns to make sentences. Follow the example:
A. She
was very suntanned because
B. They
missed the bus because
C. He
had a stomachache because
D. She
put the cat outside because
E. It
was great to bump into Amelia because
____________ they had overslept.
____________ he had eaten too much.
_____A______ she had spent her holiday at the
beach.
____________ I hadn’t seen her for ages.
____________ it had scratched her daughter.
How
to practice the Past Perfect tense by your own:
1.
You can generate your
own timeline of major historical events and make examples using any event you
can relate to yourself. It’s also a good way to use the adverb already and to practice the Passive
Form:
When I was born, the
Internet had already been invented.
When I finished high
school, the Berlin wall had already been
demolished.
2. Continue using your timeline to comparing past
events, but this time make negative statements. It’s also a good time to practice
the Passive Form and to use the adverb yet:
When my
grandmother was born, penicillin hadn’t
been discovered yet.
When I
was born, Facebook hadn’t been invented
yet.
3. Use the same timelines to ask your classmates or
friends questions:
Had you started learning English
when you finished high school?
Had you learned to drive a car when
you got your first job?
Bibliography:
- AZAR, Betty S. and HAGEN, Stacy A. “Understanding and Using English
Grammar”. Fourth edition. U.S.A.,
Pearson Longman, 2009. p. 50
- SOARS, John and Liz. “New Headway Pre-Intermediate
Student’s Book”. Fourth edition. United Kingdom, Oxford University
Press, 2012. Grammar Reference (Unit 9). p. 144
- SWAN, Michael. “Practical English Usage”. Third edition. United
Kingdom, Oxford University Press, 2005.
p. 397
Cibergraphy:
1. Past
Perfect (Verb tense tutorial)
October
2015.
2. Past
Perfect (English Grammar)
November
2015.
3. How to Teach the Past Perfect Tense
(http://busyteacher.org/3680-past-perfect-tense.html)
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