Thanks to visit codestin.com
Credit goes to www.scribd.com

Scribd
Upload
19 views1 page

Past Perfect

The document explains the use of the past perfect tense, which is formed by combining 'had' with the past participle to indicate an action completed before another past action. It provides examples to illustrate how the past perfect tense clarifies the sequence of events, such as when one action occurs before another in the past. The document emphasizes the importance of using the past perfect to convey the correct timeline of events.

Uploaded by

Virginia Stanciucu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as ODT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
19 views1 page

Past Perfect

The document explains the use of the past perfect tense, which is formed by combining 'had' with the past participle to indicate an action completed before another past action. It provides examples to illustrate how the past perfect tense clarifies the sequence of events, such as when one action occurs before another in the past. The document emphasizes the importance of using the past perfect to convey the correct timeline of events.

Uploaded by

Virginia Stanciucu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as ODT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

When we talk about something that happened in the past we sometimes want to refer

back to something that happened before that time. We can use the past perfect tense
(had + past participle) to do this. The past perfect refers to an event that was
completed at some point in the past before something else happened. It is formed by
combining the auxiliary verb had with the past participle of the main verb.
Look at these two sentences.
•John left the house at 7:30 yesterday morning.
•Mary rang John’s doorbell at 8:15 yesterday.
Both actions happened in the past so we use the past simple tense. But look at how we
can combine the sentences.
•Mary rang John’s doorbell at 8:15 yesterday but John had already left the house.
We use the past perfect (had left) because the action happened before another action in
the past (Mary rang the doorbell.)
Look at some more examples of the past perfect.
•When Mrs Brown opened the washing machine she realised she had washed the cat.
•I got a letter from Jim last week. We’d been at school together but we’d lost touch with
each other.
The past perfect is used because they were at school before he received the letter. It
refers to an earlier past.
Look at these 2 sentences.
•James had cooked breakfast when we got up.
•James cooked breakfast when we got up.
In the first sentence, the past perfect tells us that James cooked breakfast before we got
up. In the second sentence, first we got up and then James cooked breakfast.

You might also like