3.4.

THE PAST PERFECT

3.4.1. THE PAST PERFECT SIMPLE

Form: It consists of the past tense of the auxiliary have and the past participle of the main verb:
I had worked, etc.
Uses and values:
The past perfect simple indicates an action in the past which took place before a given past
moment or before another past action.
The past perfect simple is the past equivalent of the present perfect simple. The past perfect and
the present perfect tenses express similar relationships although in different frames.
The present perfect indicates a time earlier than the present tense. The present perfect is placed
on the present axis, it refers to before NOW.
The past perfect indicates a time earlier in the past than the past tense. The past perfect is placed
on the past axis, it refers to before THEN. Compare:
The whistle announces that the game has ended.
The whistle announced that the game had ended.
(1) The past perfect simple expresses an action completed in the past before another point of time
in the past or before another activity in the past. In other words, it expresses a time further back
than a certain point in the past.
Time markers (which express a point of time or activity the past) may be rendered by:
a) an adverbial phrase of time: usually expressed by the adverbs before, already, adverbial phrases
introduced by the prepositions by, until.
I had finished my homework by 10 oclock.
Until yesterday I had never heard about it.
I saw the play last week. I hadnt seen it before.
We had bought the tickets a few days before.
Note: Compare the use of ago and before:
I booked the room two weeks ago.
He said he had booked the room two weeks before.
b) a clause which contains a verb in the past tense. We particularly need the past perfect when we
wish to emphasize the previousness, anteriority of an earlier action: the action expressed by the
past perfect was completed before another action in the past (expressed by the past tense).
Syntactically, the verb in the past perfect occurs in:
- The main clause contains a past perfect while the clause of time a past tense. The clause of time
is usually introduced by the conjunctions before, by, when:
All the guests had left by the time we arrived.
By the time I got to the station the train had left.
She had studied English thoroughly before she went to England.
I had finished my homework by the time they came.
The adverbs already, just, hardly, scarcely, no sooner are often used with the past perfect to
emphasize that the action expressed by the past perfect simple is completed immediately before the
other past action expressed by the past tense:
When The Titanic hit an iceberg the passengers had just gone to bed
I had just / scarcely got into the room when the phone rang.
I had hardly got into the room when the phone rang.
When Tom arrived at the station the train had already left
They had no sooner got on the train than it left.
Hardly, scarcely, no sooner can be placed in initial position. This emphatic position requires
inversion of subject and auxiliary:
No sooner had they got on the rain than it left.
- The main clause contains a past tense while the subordinate clause contains a past perfect:
i. in adverbial clauses of time introduced by after, until, as soon as, when:
The secretary left the office after she had turned off the lights.
The passengers got out as soon as the train had stopped.
I didnt realize my mistake until Id handed in the test.
When he had had his supper he went to bed.