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Forming and Using the Past Perfect Tense

Introduction __________________________________________________________________
The past perfect tense is often used in English when we are relating two events which happened in the past. It helps to show which event happened first. This page will explain the rules for forming and using the tense. ______________________________________________________________________________

Forming the Past Perfect Tense:


This tense is formed using two components: the verb HAVE (in the past tense), and the past participle form of a verb. With a regular verb the past participle ends with -ED (just like the simple past). Irregular verbs have a special past participle form that you have to learn. Here are the rules, using the regular verb "arrive" and the irregular verb "eat": Subject HAVE Past Participle arrived. eaten. arrived. eaten. arrived. eaten. arrived. eaten. Contraction I'd arrived. I'd eaten. You'd arrived. You'd eaten. He'd arrived. He'd eaten. She'd arrived. She'd eaten.

had

You

had

He

had

She

had

It

had

arrived. eaten. arrived. eaten. arrived. eaten.

It'd arrived. It'd eaten. We'd arrived. We'd eaten. They'd arrived. They'd eaten.

We

had

They

had

Using the Past Perfect


The past perfect is used to show you which of two events happened first. Imagine that two things happened in the past: I went to see the movie. We discussed the movie in class.

Here, we don't know which order the events happened in. That may be important -- perhaps I went to see the movie after the discussion, or maybe I saw the movie before the discussion. There are many ways to make this sequence clear, and the past perfect is one of them. This is how we do it: I went to see the movie. We had discussed it in class.

Here, we KNOW that the discussion took place FIRST -- even though the sentence describing it comes afterwards. We discussed the movie, and THEN I went to see it. This can be very useful when you are telling a story or relating a sequence of events. At any point in your story, you can jump BACK to a previous event, and your reader will not be confused, because the past perfect will make it clear that the event happened previously. Here is another example: I wanted to live in a foreign country, so I applied for a job in Japan. Judy lived in Japan, so I

called her to find out more about the culture and lifestyle there. (Judy was probably still living in Japan when I called her.) I wanted to live in a foreign country, so I applied for a job in Japan. Judy had lived in Japan, so I called her to find out more about the culture and lifestyle there. (Judy no longer lived in Japan -- she returned from there before I applied for the job.)

EXAMPLES:
1. When I got home my parents had just left. 2. When I met him he was 24. He had been in the States for 10 years (since he was 14

fourteen).
3. The airline had lost my suitcase so I had to borrow clothes from a friend. 4. We met him in Austin in 1998. We had last visited him five years before. 5. She had just prepared dinner when her husband called and said that he would be late. 6. We had never seen such beautiful white beaches before we went to Australia. 7. When he had gone, I went back into the house. 8. We thought we had seen the last of raindrops falling, when another downpour began. 9. The grin had left his face and he was staring at his girlfriend. 10. They didn't want to leave until they had seen all the paintings. 11. If I had known her address, I would have visited her.

12. She saw footprints and realized that someone had been in the garden. 13. He had always wanted to go to New Zealand, but could never save the money.

EXERCISE: Fill in the blanks.


1. First, we ate at the cafeteria. Then, we went to class.

After we ____________ at the cafeteria, we ____________ to class.


2. First, Juan made himself a sandwich. Then, he poured some tea.

After Juan ____________ himself a sandwich, he _____________ some tea.


3. First, Gunawan plugged in the headphones. Then, he played a CD.

Before he ____________ a CD, Gunawan ____________ in the headphones.


4. First, Soriah fed the cat. Then, she called her mother.

Soriah ____________ her mother after she ____________ the cat. 5. First, Marie did her homework. Then, she watched TV. Marie _____________ her homework before she ______________ TV.

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