TENSES MADE EASY
Past Perfect
The past
perfect is quite simple and useful. We use it to show that one action in the
past occurred before another action in the past.
USE:
1. A completed action before another activity
in the past
Past
Perfect Simple
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To Talk About actions/states that
occurred before a certain point in the past.
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POSITIVE
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SUBJECT
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AUX.
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PAST PARTICIPLE
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I
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Had
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Worked
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NEGATIVE
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SUBJECT
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AUX. + NOT
|
PAST PARTICIPLE
|
I
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Hadn’t
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Worked
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QUESTION
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AUX.
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SUBJECT
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PAST PARTICIPLE
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Had
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You
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Worked?
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The past perfect is also used in a number
of expressions like these:
I wish, I’d rather, as if/though and if
only
I wish I hadn’t gone there
I’d (= I had) rather see It for my self
John looked as if he had done something
terrible
In Positive Sentences
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Mr. Johnson had read the document carefully before he signed it
Before I was
born, my grandfather had gone to war
You may find
that people (especially native speakers) sometimes don’t use the Past Perfect in sentences like:
After I walked my dog, I went to the cinema
This is
because ‘after’ or ‘before’ tell the listener which action happened first
Still, keep
in mind that such sentences are usually used in conversations rather than other
situations
Thus try to
avoid them – especially in tests where you can lose points
In Questions
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Had he known some words before he
started learning English?
Had they had any pet before they bought
the giraffe?
Common time
expressions (time adverbials) in the past perfect:
After, before, as soon as, just, yet,
until, till, by the time that.
In Negative Sentences
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I hadn’t seen Berlin before I flew there
in the summer
Brenda
didn’t call me before her plane had
landed
Of course,
the past perfect is used in reported
speech (= saying someone else said):
Ann: I was in the US 12 months ago
George: Ann said she had been in the US 12 months earlier
OR
Ann: I have searched all the rooms
George: Ann said she had been searched all the rooms
So what we
basically do is replace the past simple and present perfect with The Past Perfect
Spoken Practice
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Answer the following questions in spoken
English
1.
Make 10 combined sentences of past simple and
past perfect, for example:
When
I reached home my family members had slept; the train had left before I reached
the railway station, etc.
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